Systems/methods of providing a processing capability to a first device by a second device

ABSTRACT

Inventive concepts and embodiments associated therewith are provided wherein a first device may solicit a processing capability from at least one second device that may be proximate to the first device. In some embodiments, the processing capability comprises receiving data by the at least one second device from the first device, processing the data and transmitting by the at least one second device a processed version of said data to a destination device. In some embodiments, the first device comprises a smartphone that is configured to perform operations comprising wirelessly soliciting the processing capability from the at least one second device. In some embodiments, the at least one second device comprises at least one smartphone and the destination device comprises a base station.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 62/445,929, filed Jan. 13, 2017, entitled Systems/Methods ofBandwidth Reduction Using Auxiliary Devices, and to U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/451,245, filed Jan. 27, 2017, entitled AdditionalSystems/Methods of Bandwidth Reduction Using Auxiliary Devices and/orAccess Points, both of which are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety as if fully set forth herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates generally to communication ofinformation, and relates more particularly to implicitly conveyinginformation.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communications systems/methods are increasingly being used toprovide voice, data and/or multimedia services. As the use of wirelesssystems/methods continues to increase, limited availability inelectromagnetic spectrum may adversely constraint such systems/methodsin their ability to transmit/receive voice/data/multimedia contenteffectively and/or at a rate that is satisfactory to end users.

SUMMARY

According to various embodiments of inventive concepts, a base stationmay communicate with a destination device (e.g., a smartphone) andreceive information regarding one or more auxiliary devices that arecapable of communicating with the destination device. In accordance withsome embodiments, the base station receives the information regardingthe one or more auxiliary devices that are capable of communicating withthe destination device from the destination device. Each of said one ormore auxiliary devices may be assigned, by the base station and/ordestination device, a reference index and/or an identity which may berelayed to the base station, destination device and/or to the relevantauxiliary device that is associated with said reference index and/oridentity. Responsive to such information, the base station may transmitN bits to a specific auxiliary device whose reference index and/oridentity correlates, relates or is a priori associated with a specificsequence of L bits, other than the N bits, that the base station alsodesires to relay to the destination device. The specific auxiliarydevice that receives the N bits transfers the N bits to the destinationdevice (and, according to some embodiments, also transfers at least somesaid specific sequence of L bits to the destination device). Thedestination device then knows, via a priori arrangement (and/or byactually receiving said at least some of said specific sequence of Lbits from said specific auxiliary device), to augment/append the N bitswith at least some bits of the specific sequence of L bits, since the Nbits were received at the destination device from said specificauxiliary device. Other auxiliary devices would be associated with otherspecific sequences of L bits. Thus, a destination device may receive N+Lbits while the base station transmits only N bits. Access points thatmay function in a plurality of modes (concurrently or separately),including functions of an auxiliary device are also disclosed.

Embodiments of inventive concepts described herein are applicable tomilitary systems/methods and alternatively or additionally applicable tocommercial systems/methods including cellular systems/methods andhome/office systems/methods. In these and other applications, someembodiments may provide bandwidth reduction, range extension,Quality-of-Service improvement, data rate enhancement and/or improvedprivacy, security and encryption. For example, some embodiments maymaximize spectrum efficiency, reduce electromagnetic spectrum bandwidthrequirements, extend communications range, reduce Bit Error Rate and/orprovide encryption.

More particularly, embodiments herein include a method of conveying Nbits of information and L bits of information, for a total of N+L bitsof information, from a transmitter to a destination device via anauxiliary device. The method comprises selecting, by said transmitterand from a plurality of auxiliary devices that are respectivelyassociated with different possible states of said L bits of information,an auxiliary device that is associated with a state of the L bits ofinformation to be conveyed to the destination device, wherein L≥1. Themethod also comprises conveying the N+L bits of information from thetransmitter to the destination device via the selected auxiliary device,without the transmitter transmitting any of said L bits of informationto the destination device or the selected auxiliary device, by thetransmitter transmitting a signal to the selected auxiliary device,wherein the signal comprises said N bits of information, wherein N≥0.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises refraining by thetransmitter from conveying any of the N bits of information and any ofthe L bits of information directly to the destination device.

In some embodiments, said plurality of auxiliary devices comprises Mauxiliary devices that are associated with different respective ones ofat least 2^(L) different possible states of said L bits, whereinM≥2^(L)≥2, wherein said state of said L bits of information is one ofthe at least 2^(L) different possible states.

In some embodiments, the plurality of auxiliary devices includes thedestination device acting as an auxiliary device.

In some embodiments, one or more auxiliary devices of said plurality ofauxiliary devices are proximate to the destination device. In someembodiments, said proximate to the destination device comprises being ona person who is using the destination device.

In some embodiments, said selecting comprises associating by thetransmitter said state of said L bits that the transmitter is to conveyto the destination device with an index of the auxiliary device to beselected; and wherein said index of said auxiliary device ispredetermined to be associated with said state of said L bits. In someembodiments, the transmitter conveying the N+L bits of information tothe destination device by transmitting the signal comprising the N bitsof information to the selected auxiliary device is based on the selectedauxiliary device and/or the destination device augmenting said N bits byappending thereto at least some of said L bits of information uponreceiving the signal comprising said N bits of information. For example,in some embodiments, it is predetermined that said destination deviceand/or said auxiliary device is to augment said N bits by appending saidN bits by at least some of said L bits at an end of said N bits, beyondthe end of said N bits and/or prior to the end of said N bits.Alternatively, in some embodiments, it is predetermined that saiddestination device and/or said auxiliary device is to augment said Nbits by appending said N bits by at least some of said L bits at abeginning of said N bits, prior to the beginning of said N bits and/orbeyond the beginning of said N bits. Alternatively, in some embodiments,it is predetermined that said destination device and/or said auxiliarydevice is to augment said N bits by appending said N bits by at leastsome of said L bits at a location beyond a beginning but before an endof said N bits. Alternatively, in some embodiments, it is predeterminedthat said destination device and/or said auxiliary device is to augmentsaid N bits by appending said N bits by at least some of said L bits anddistributing said at least some of said L bits over a plurality ofdifferent non-contiguous locations of said N bits.

In some embodiments, said N bits and said L bits of information are tobe conveyed to the destination device as bits in a predetermined order.For example, in some embodiments, said predetermined order comprisessaid N bits appended by at least some of said L bits at an end of said Nbits, beyond the end of said N bits and/or before the end of said Nbits. Alternatively, in some embodiments, said predetermined ordercomprises said N bits appended by at least some of said L bits at abeginning of said N bits, beyond the beginning of said N bits and/orprior to the beginning of said N bits. Alternatively, in someembodiments, said predetermined order comprises said N bits appended byat least some of said L bits at a location beyond a beginning but beforean end of said N bits. Alternatively, in some embodiments, saidpredetermined order comprises said N bits appended by at least some ofsaid L bits and said at least some of said L bits distributed over aplurality of different non-contiguous locations of said N bits.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises providing privacy,security and/or encryption by conveying by the transmitter, via saidauxiliary device, to the destination device said N+L bits of informationvia a transmission by the transmitter to said auxiliary device that doesnot include any of said L bits of information.

In some embodiments, conveying the N+L bits of information from thetransmitter to the destination device via the selected auxiliary devicecomprises conveying N bits of first information and L bits of firstinformation, for a total of N+L bits of first information to thedestination device, via a first auxiliary device of the plurality ofauxiliary devices that is associated with a state of said L bits offirst information, by transmitting a signal comprising the N bits offirst information to the first auxiliary device. In this case, themethod may further comprise conveying N bits of second information and Lbits of second information, for a total of N+L bits of secondinformation, to the destination device via a second auxiliary device ofthe plurality of auxiliary devices that is associated with a state ofsaid L bits of second information, by transmitting a signal comprisingsaid N bits of second information to the second auxiliary device. Forexample, in some embodiments, each one of said first and secondauxiliary devices is attached, installed and/or positioned in/on abuilding. Alternatively, in some embodiments, each one of said first andsecond auxiliary devices is attached and/or situated on a person.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving informationindicating one or more of the plurality of auxiliary devices as beingproximate to and/or capable of communicating with the destinationdevice.

In some embodiments, one or more auxiliary devices of said plurality ofauxiliary devices are integrated with the destination device.

Embodiments herein also include a transmitter configured to perform themethod according to any of the above embodiments. For example, someembodiments include a transmitter comprising communication circuitry andprocessing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to select,from a plurality of auxiliary devices that are respectively associatedwith different possible states of L bits of information, an auxiliarydevice that is associated with a state of L bits of information to beconveyed to a destination device, wherein L 1; and convey N+L bits ofinformation from the transmitter to the destination device via theselected auxiliary device, without the transmitter transmitting any ofsaid L bits of information to the destination device or the selectedauxiliary device, by transmitting via the communication circuitry asignal to the selected auxiliary device, wherein the signal comprises Nbits of information, wherein N≥0.

Embodiments herein further include a method for a destination device tobe conveyed N bits of information and L bits of information, for a totalof N+L bits of information, from a transmitter. The method comprisesreceiving at the destination device a signal from an auxiliary device ofa plurality of auxiliary devices that are respectively associated withdifferent possible states of the L bits of information, wherein thesignal comprises the N bits of information to be conveyed to thedestination device but is devoid of said L bits of information to beconveyed to the destination device, wherein L≥1 and N≥0; and determiningthe N+L bits of information conveyed by the transmitter to thedestination device as including the N bits of information comprised inthe received signal and L bits that have a state associated with theauxiliary device from which the signal is received.

In some embodiments, determining the N+L bits of information comprisesaugmenting by the destination device said N bits of information byappending thereto at least some of the L bits with a state that isassociated with the auxiliary device from which the signal is received.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises; identifying at leastone auxiliary device that is proximate to and/or capable ofcommunicating with the destination device; and informing the transmitterof the identified at least one auxiliary device that is proximate toand/or capable of communicating with the destination device;

In some embodiments, the method comprises the destination devicereceiving said N bits of information and said L bits of information bycommunicating with the auxiliary device and not receiving any of said Nbits of information directly from the transmitter and not receiving anyof said L bits of information directly from the transmitter.

In some embodiments, said plurality of auxiliary devices comprises Mauxiliary devices that are associated with different respective ones ofat least 2^(L) different possible states of L bits, wherein M≥2^(L)≥2;and said state of said L bits of information is one of the at least2^(L) different possible states.

In some embodiments, wherein the plurality of auxiliary devices includesthe destination device acting as an auxiliary device.

In some embodiments, wherein one or more auxiliary devices of saidplurality of auxiliary devices are proximate to the destination device.For example, in some embodiments said proximate to the destinationdevice comprises being on a person who is using the destination device.

In some embodiments, an index of said auxiliary device from which thesignal is received is predetermined to be associated with said state ofsaid L bits of information. For example, in some embodiments,determining the N+L bits of information comprises augmenting by thedestination device said N bits of information by appending thereto atleast some of the L bits with a state that is associated with theauxiliary device from which the signal is received, and said augmentingby the destination device comprises forming by the destination device asequence of bits comprising the N+L bits of information. In someembodiments, said augmenting by the destination device said N bits ofinformation comprises appending thereto at least some of said L bits atan end of said N bits and/or appending thereto at least some of said Lbits at a distance from the end of said N bits. Alternatively, in someembodiments, said augmenting by the destination device said N bits ofinformation comprises appending thereto at least some of said L bits ata beginning of said N bits and/or appending thereto at least some ofsaid L bits at a distance from the beginning of said N bits.Alternatively, in some embodiments, said augmenting by the destinationdevice said N bits of information comprises appending thereto at leastsome of said L bits at a location thereof beyond a beginning but beforean end of said N bits and/or appending thereto at least some of said Lbits at a location thereof prior to the beginning and/or following theend of said N bits. Alternatively, in some embodiments, said augmentingby the destination device said N bits of information comprises appendingthereto at least some of said L bits over a plurality of differentnon-contiguous locations of said N bits.

In some embodiments, said augmenting by the destination device said Nbits of information by appending thereto at least some of said L bits ofinformation comprises forming by the destination device a sequence ofbits comprising the N+L bits of information. For example, in someembodiments, said augmenting by the destination device said N bits ofinformation comprises appending thereto at least some of said L bits atan end of said N bits and/or appending thereto at least some of said Lbits at a distance from the end of said N bits, wherein said distancefrom the end of said N bits comprises a distance following said endand/or a distance prior to said end. Alternatively, in some embodiments,said augmenting by the destination device said N bits of informationcomprises appending thereto at least some of said L bits at a beginningof said N bits and/or appending thereto at least some of said L bits ata distance from the beginning of said N bits, wherein said distance fromthe beginning of said N bits comprises a distance following saidbeginning and/or a distance prior to said beginning. Alternatively, insome embodiments, said augmenting by the destination device said N bitsof information comprises appending thereto at least some of said L bitsat a location thereof beyond a beginning but before an end of said Nbits and/or appending thereto at least some of said L bits at a locationthereof prior to the beginning and/or following the end of said N bits.Alternatively, in some embodiments, said augmenting by the destinationdevice said N bits of information comprises appending thereto at leastsome of said L bits over a plurality of different non-contiguouslocations of said N bits.

In some embodiments, the signal that is received at the destinationdevice from the auxiliary device comprises at least one frequency thatis mutually exclusive to frequencies used for cellular communications.

In some embodiments, the signal that is received at the destinationdevice from the auxiliary device comprises frequencies that are used forcellular communications.

In some embodiments, the signal that is received at the destinationdevice from the auxiliary device is based upon a protocol that differsfrom a protocol used by said transmitter to transmit a signal comprisingsaid N bits of information to the auxiliary device.

In some embodiments, the signal that is received at the destinationdevice from the auxiliary device is based upon a protocol that is usedby said transmitter to transmit a signal comprising said N bits ofinformation to the auxiliary device.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises providing privacy,security and/or encryption by the destination device being conveyed saidN bits of information and said L bits of information via a transmissionthat is limited to only said N bits of information.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises being conveyed the N+Lbits of information from the transmitter by receiving the signal fromthe auxiliary device as a first auxiliary device of the plurality ofauxiliary devices, and further comprising being conveyed another N+Lbits of information from the transmitter by receiving a signal from asecond auxiliary device of the plurality of auxiliary devices associatedwith a state of L bits of information to be conveyed via the secondauxiliary device. For example, in some embodiments, the method furthercomprises receiving by said destination device information from saidfirst auxiliary device and from said second auxiliary device overrespective first and second time intervals that overlap with one anotherat least partially. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the methodfurther comprises receiving by said destination device information fromsaid first auxiliary device and from said second auxiliary device overrespective first and second time intervals that do not overlap with oneanother. In some embodiments, at least one of said first and secondauxiliary devices is attached to, installed and/or positioned in/on, abuilding. In some embodiments, at least one of said first and secondauxiliary devices is attached to, and/or is situated on, a person. Insome embodiments, the method comprises receiving by said destinationdevice information from said first and second auxiliary devices usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallymutually exclusive with one another. In some embodiments, the methodcomprises receiving by said destination device information from saidfirst and second auxiliary devices using respective first and secondfrequency sets that are at least partially overlapping with one another.In some embodiments, the method comprises receiving by said destinationdevice information from said first and second auxiliary devices usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallymutually exclusive with one another. In some embodiments, the methodcomprises receiving by said destination device information from saidfirst and second auxiliary devices using respective first and secondfrequency sets that are at least partially overlapping with one another.

In some embodiments, one or more auxiliary devices of said plurality ofauxiliary devices is integrated with the destination device.

In some embodiments, the destination device receives information from atleast one auxiliary device over first and second time intervals that donot overlap with one another, receives information from at least oneauxiliary device via first and second protocols that differ from oneanother and/or receives information from at least one auxiliary devicevia first and second frequency sets whose frequencies are at leastpartially mutually exclusive with one another.

In some embodiments, the method comprises the destination devicereceiving information indirectly from the transmitter via said auxiliarydevice and also receives information directly from the transmitter. Forexample, in some embodiments, the method comprises the destinationdevice receiving information directly from the transmitter viafrequencies of a cellular frequency band and receiving informationindirectly from the transmitter via said auxiliary device viafrequencies that are at least partially mutually exclusive tofrequencies of said cellular frequency band. Alternatively, in someembodiments, the method comprises the destination device receivinginformation directly from the transmitter and receiving informationindirectly from the transmitter concurrently with one another. In someembodiments, the method comprises the destination device receivinginformation directly from the transmitter via frequencies of a cellularfrequency band and receiving information indirectly from the transmittervia said auxiliary device via frequencies of said cellular frequencyband. For example, the method may comprise the destination devicereceiving information directly from the transmitter and furtherreceiving information indirectly from the transmitter, via saidauxiliary device, concurrently with receiving information directly fromthe transmitter.

In some embodiments, the method comprises the destination devicereceiving first information and receiving second information,concurrently with one another, from respective first and secondauxiliary devices of said plurality of auxiliary devices.

In some embodiments, the destination device comprises a smartphone.

Embodiments herein also include a destination device configured toperform the method according to any of the above embodiments. Forexample, embodiments herein include a destination device comprisingcommunication circuitry and processing circuitry. The processingcircuitry is configured to: receive via the communication circuitry asignal from an auxiliary device of a plurality of auxiliary devices thatare respectively associated with different possible states of L bits ofinformation that a transmitter is to convey to the destination device,wherein the signal that is received from the auxiliary device comprisesN bits of information that the transmitter is also to convey to thedestination device but is devoid of said L bits of information, whereinL≥1 and N≥0; and determine N+L bits of information conveyed by thetransmitter to the destination device as including the N bits ofinformation comprised in the received signal from the auxiliary deviceand L bits that have a state associated with the auxiliary device fromwhich the signal is received.

Embodiments herein further include a method of conveying N bits ofinformation and L bits of information, for a total of N+L bits ofinformation, from a transmitter to a destination device. The methodcomprises receiving, at an auxiliary device and from the transmitter, asignal that comprises the N bits of information to be conveyed to thedestination device and that is devoid of the L bits of information to beconveyed to the destination device, wherein L≥1 and N≥0; and responsiveto receiving the signal from the transmitter, conveying the N+L bits ofinformation from the auxiliary device to the destination device based onthe auxiliary device being associated with a state of the L bits ofinformation to be conveyed, wherein said conveying comprises theauxiliary device transmitting to the destination device a signal thatcomprises the N bits of information.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises appending said N bitsof information with at least some bits of said L bits of informationresponsive to having received the signal comprising said N bits ofinformation. For example, in some embodiments, said transmitting by theauxiliary device a signal comprising said N bits of informationcomprises transmitting by the auxiliary device a signal comprising saidN bits of information and at least some bits of said L bits ofinformation.

In some embodiments, the method comprises determining, based on theauxiliary device having been selected to receive said signal thatcomprises said N bits of information, that the auxiliary device hasreceived from the transmitter said N bits of information and, further,said L bits of information, in addition to the N bits of information,even though the signal received at the auxiliary device comprises said Nbits of information and is devoid of said L bits of information,

In some embodiments, said auxiliary device is an auxiliary device of aplurality of auxiliary devices comprising M auxiliary devices that areassociated with different respective ones of at least 2^(L) differentpossible states of L bits, wherein M≥2^(L)≥2; and said state of said Lbits of information is one of the at least 2^(L) different possiblestates.

In some embodiments, at least one of the plurality of auxiliary devicesis proximate to the destination device. In some embodiments, saidproximate to the destination device comprises being on a person who isusing the destination device.

In some embodiments, said signal that is transmitted by said auxiliarydevice comprises information received at the auxiliary device from thetransmitter; and an index of said auxiliary device is predetermined tobe associated with said state of said L bits of information.

In some embodiments, it is predetermined that, responsive to theauxiliary device having transmitted said signal comprising said N bitsof information and responsive to the destination device having receivedsaid signal transmitted by the auxiliary device, said destination deviceis to augment said N bits conveyed by said signal received at thedestination device by at least some bits of said L bits.

In some embodiments, the signal that is transmitted by the auxiliarydevice comprises at least one frequency that is mutually exclusive tofrequencies used for cellular communications.

In some embodiments, the signal that is transmitted by the auxiliarydevice comprises frequencies used for cellular communications.

In some embodiments, the signal that is transmitted by the auxiliarydevice is based upon a protocol that differs from a protocol used bysaid transmitter to transmit a signal comprising said N bits ofinformation to the auxiliary device.

In some embodiments, the signal that is transmitted by the auxiliarydevice is based upon a protocol that is used by said transmitter totransmit a signal comprising said N bits of information to the auxiliarydevice.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises providing privacy,security and/or encryption by conveying to the destination device N bitsof information and L bits of information via explicit reception at theauxiliary device that is does not include any of said L bits ofinformation.

In some embodiments, said auxiliary device comprises a first auxiliarydevice of a plurality of auxiliary devices, wherein the plurality ofauxiliary devices includes a second auxiliary device configured toconvey another N+L bits of information from the transmitter to thedestination device via the second auxiliary device. For example, in someembodiments, said first auxiliary device and said second auxiliarydevice are configured to transmit/receive information to/from thedestination device over respective first and second time intervals thatoverlap with one another at least partially. Alternatively, in someembodiments, said first auxiliary device and said second auxiliarydevice are configured to transmit/receive information to/from thedestination device over respective first and second time intervals donot overlap with one another. In some embodiments, at least one of saidfirst and second auxiliary devices is attached to, installed and/orpositioned in/on, a building. In some embodiments, at least one of saidfirst and second auxiliary devices is attached to, and/or is situatedon, a person. In some embodiments, said first and second auxiliarydevices are configured to transmit/receive information to/from thedestination device using respective first and second frequency sets thatare at least partially mutually exclusive with one another. In otherembodiments, said first and second auxiliary devices are configured totransmit/receive information to/from the destination device usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallyoverlapping with one another. In some embodiments, said first and secondauxiliary devices are configured to transmit/receive information to/fromthe destination device using respective first and second frequency setsthat are at least partially mutually exclusive with one another. In someembodiments, said first and second auxiliary devices are configured totransmit/receive information to/from the destination device usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallyoverlapping with one another. In some embodiments, said first auxiliarydevice and said second auxiliary device convey information to thedestination device using respective first and second protocols thatdiffer with one another. In some embodiments, said first auxiliarydevice conveys information to the destination device using a protocoland wherein said second auxiliary device conveys information to thedestination device also using said protocol.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: identifying theauxiliary device as being proximate to and/or capable of communicatingwith the destination device; and informing the transmitter that theauxiliary device is proximate to and/or capable of communicating withthe destination device;

In some embodiments, the auxiliary device is integrated with thedestination device.

In some embodiments, said auxiliary device comprises at least oneauxiliary device; the method further comprising: transmitting/receivinginformation by the at least one auxiliary device to/from the destinationdevice and/or the transmitter over first and second time intervals thatdo not overlap with one another; transmitting/receiving information bythe at least one auxiliary device to/from the destination device and/orthe transmitter via first and second protocols that differ from oneanother; and/or transmitting/receiving information by the at least oneauxiliary device to/from the destination device and/or the transmittervia first and second frequency sets whose frequencies are at leastpartially mutually exclusive with one another.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving informationdirectly from the transmitter and also receiving information directlyfrom the destination device. For example, in some embodiments, themethod further comprises transmitting/receiving information directlyto/from the transmitter via frequencies of a cellular frequency band andtransmitting/receiving information directly to/from the destinationdevice via frequencies that are at least partially mutually exclusivewith frequencies of said cellular frequency band. In other embodiments,the method further comprises transmitting/receiving information directlyto/from the transmitter and transmitting/receiving information directlyto/from the destination device concurrently with one another. In stillother embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting/receivinginformation directly to/from the transmitter via frequencies of acellular frequency band and transmitting/receiving information directlyto/from the destination device via frequencies of said cellularfrequency band.

In some embodiments, said auxiliary device is a first auxiliary deviceincluded in a plurality of auxiliary devices that also includes a secondauxiliary device; and wherein said first and second auxiliary devicestransmit/receive concurrently with one another.

In some embodiments, the auxiliary device comprises a smartphone.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises responsive to havingreceived the signal from the transmitter, transmitting the signal to thedestination device at a second power level that is less than a firstpower level with which the transmitter transmitted the received signal.

Embodiments also include an auxiliary device configured to perform themethod of any of the above embodiments. For example, embodiments includean auxiliary device configured for a transmitter to convey N bits ofinformation and L bits of information, for a total of N+L bits ofinformation, to a destination device via the auxiliary device. Theauxiliary device comprises communication circuitry and processingcircuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to: receive, via thecommunication circuitry and from the transmitter, a signal thatcomprises the N bits of information to be conveyed to the destinationdevice and that is devoid of the L bits of information to be conveyed tothe destination device, wherein L≥1 and N≥0; and responsive to receivingthe signal from the transmitter, convey the N+L bits of information tothe destination device based on the auxiliary device being associatedwith a state of the L bits of information to be conveyed, wherein theprocessing circuitry is configured to convey the N+L bits of informationby transmitting via the communication circuitry to the destinationdevice a signal that comprises the N bits of information.

Embodiments also include a system that comprises two or more of thetransmitter, the destination device, and the auxiliary device asdescribed herein.

Embodiments further include corresponding computer programs andnon-transitory computer readable mediums configured for performing theprocessing herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a base station (“BTS”),auxiliary device (“AD”) configuration and destination device (“DD”)configuration according to embodiments of the present inventiveconcepts. The BTS, AD₁-AD₄ and/or the DD may also be connected with oneanother, to an internet/intranet, a facility of at least one serviceprovider and/or other devices such as, for example, appliances,entertainment units, etc. (not shown in FIG. 1).

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of base station antennas transmittingvarious signals to auxiliary devices.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of additional embodiments ofinventive concepts comprising the BTS communicating directly with the DDand also communicating indirectly with the DD via one or more ADs(AD₁-AD₃). The auxiliary devices AD₁-AD₃ and/or the DD may also beconnected with one another, with an internet/intranet and/or a facilityof at least one service provider (as indicated by the dotted arrow ofFIG. 3) and/or to other devices such as, for example, appliances,entertainment units, etc. (not shown in FIG. 3).

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of embodiments wherein structuressuch as, for example, homes/buildings, etc. are equipped with accesspoints (“APs”) that may also function as ADs in providing communicationsto a DD such as, for example, a smartphone. The access points that mayalso function as auxiliary devices, (AP/AD)₁-(AP/AD)₄, may be connectedto one another wirelessly via links 13 and/or via the internet/intranetvia links 14. Each one of (AP/AD)₁-(AP/AD)₄, may use a respectivedifferent band of frequencies B1-B4 to communicate with a DD. Each oneof (AP/AD)₁-(AP/AD)₄, may be a multi-mode, multi-band device that is atleast partially self-regulating in that it coordinates frequencyuse/reuse and/or bandwidth requirements with other APs/ADs (that may benear-by/proximate APs/ADs).

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of embodiments wherein a plurality ofdevices are used to launch, concurrently and co-frequency, a pluralityof signals towards a respective plurality of antennas of a BTS.

FIG. 6 is a logic flow diagram illustrating processing performed by atransmitter according to some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a logic flow diagram illustrating processing performed by adestination device according to some embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a logic flow diagram illustrating processing performed by anauxiliary device according to some embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of a transmitter according to someembodiments.

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of a destination device according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of an auxiliary device according tosome embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to some embodiments described herein, a destination device,such as, for example, a smartphone, is proximate to, is equipped withand/or is capable of communicating with a plurality of auxiliarydevices. A base station (“BTS” or “BTS 10” as may be referred to belowwith respect to some of the figures) in such embodiments may select toconvey a block of N bits of information (N≥0) to, for example, oneauxiliary device, of the plurality of auxiliary devices. Then, said oneauxiliary device may convey the block of N bits of information to thedestination device. Selecting by the BTS said one auxiliary device, ofthe plurality of auxiliary devices, may be based on (e.g., may beresponsive to) a block of L bits of information (L≥1) that the BTS alsodesires to convey to the destination device over and above the block ofN bits of information. The plurality of auxiliary devices may include atleast 2^(L) different/distinct auxiliary devices respectively associatedwith different possible states of the block of L bits of information.For example, each of the plurality of auxiliary devices may, accordingto some embodiments, be associated uniquely with an index (“j”) thatrelates to (e.g., is associated with) a respective state of said blockof L bits of information. It will be understood that the term BTS, basetransceiver station or simply base station, as used herein, may denoteany terrestrial and/or space-based transmitter, receiver and/ortransceiver, not just a transmitter, receiver and/or transceiver of aconventional (or non-conventional) base station of a cellular ornon-cellular system.

In some embodiments, said plurality of auxiliary devices may beproximate to said destination device (e.g., may be proximate to asmartphone wherein the smartphone is the destination device) and may beconnected (wirelessly and/or physically via cable and/or other means) tothe destination device (e.g., to an antenna, receiver, transmitter,processor and/or other component thereof). In some embodiments, saidplurality of auxiliary devices may be on a person who is carrying and/oris using the destination device (e.g., integrated with, or attached to,clothes or other materials/devices that the person is wearing and/orcarrying). According to additional embodiments, at least one of theplurality of auxiliary devices may be integrated with the destinationdevice (e.g., may be inside of the destination device so that the atleast one auxiliary device may always be proximate to the destinationdevice), and may be connected (wirelessly and/or physically via wireand/or other means) to the destination device (e.g., to an antenna,receiver, transmitter, processor and/or other component thereof). Inother embodiments, at least one auxiliary device of said plurality ofauxiliary devices may be proximate to said BTS and may be connected(wirelessly, physically via cable and/or via other means) to the BTS. Infurther embodiments, at least one first auxiliary device of theplurality of auxiliary devices may be proximate to and/or connected tothe BTS and at least one second auxiliary device of the plurality ofauxiliary devices may be proximate to and/or connected to thedestination device and/or the destination device may be equipped with(e.g., integrated with) said at least one second auxiliary device andmay be connected thereto wirelessly and/or physically via wire and/orother means. In yet further embodiments, a first plurality of auxiliarydevices may be proximate to the BTS and a second plurality of auxiliarydevices may be proximate to the destination device; wherein the firstplurality of auxiliary devices comprises a number N₁ of auxiliarydevices; N₁≥1; wherein the second plurality of auxiliary devicescomprises a number N₂ of auxiliary devices; N₂≥1; and wherein N₁ maydiffer from N₂. It will be understood that a plurality of auxiliarydevices may be connected (wirelessly and/or otherwise) to both the BTSand to the destination device, directly and/or via one or moreintervening elements; and that said first plurality of auxiliary devicesand said second plurality of auxiliary devices may be connected(wirelessly and/or otherwise) to one another, to the BTS and/or to thedestination device, directly and/or via one or more interveningelements. It will further be understood that frequencies and/orfrequency bands used by different auxiliary devices to relay/receiveinformation to/from different destination devices (or to/from a singledestination device) and/or to/from at least one BTS may be different andmay depend on instruction(s) received by at least one auxiliary devicefrom at least one BTS and/or from at least one destination device.

The term “proximate” as used herein may denote 10 feet or less, 30 feetor less or 100 feet or less, as may be relevant to a particularembodiment. In general, the term proximate as used herein denotes adistance that is less than another distance that is associated with theparticular embodiment and/or a relevant communications systemarchitecture. For example, a distance between a destination device(e.g., a smartphone) and a base station may be 1000 feet wherein adistance between the destination device and an auxiliary device may be87 feet. Accordingly, it may be said that the auxiliary device isproximate to the destination device.

In accordance with one exemplary embodiment that is illustrated in FIG.1, comprising four auxiliary devices that may be denoted as AD₁, AD₂,AD₃ and AD₄, or AD_(j), j=1, 2, 3, 4; an index value of j such as, forexample, j=1 may be associated with a “00” state of the block of L bitsof information; an index value of j such as, for example, j=2 may beassociated with a “01” state of the block of L bits of information; anindex value of j such as, for example, j=3 may be associated with a “10”state of the block of L bits of information; and an index value of jsuch as, for example, j=4 may be associated with a “11” state of theblock of L bits of information. Accordingly, the four auxiliary devicesof the present example may also be denoted as AD₁(00), AD₂(01), AD₃(10)and AD₄(11), as is illustrated in FIG. 1.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any otherassociation between auxiliary device index value and respective bitstate of the block of L bits of information may be possible. It will beunderstood that the block of L bits of information may be appendedand/or joined/added contiguously with/to the block of N bits ofinformation; such as, for example, nnnnll, llnnn, nnllnn, nllnnn ornnlln; wherein “l” denotes a bit state of the block of L bits ofinformation and “n” denotes a bit state of the block of N bits ofinformation. Further, according to additional embodiments, the block ofL bits of information may be appended to, and/or added contiguously ornon-contiguously with/to the block of N bits of information and may alsobe interleaved with one or more other bits “x” that do not relate toeither the N block of bits or to the L block of bits; such as, forexample, lnnlnn, nlnnnl, nnnlnxl, lxxnnlnn, nnnnxxxlxxl etc.; wherein“x” denotes a bit space that is not used/occupied for/by any bit of saidblock of N bits and is not used/occupied for/by any bit of said block ofL bits. It follows that, in some embodiments, the block of N bits ofinformation may not be a contiguous block of N bits.

Continuing with the present exemplary embodiment that is illustrated inFIG. 1, let's assume that the BTS 10 shown therein is to relay, forexample, a sequence of bits, such as, for example, the sequence of bitsof “100001” to the destination device 12. Having knowledge by the BTS 10of the four auxiliary devices that are proximate to the destinationdevice 12, and having knowledge by the BTS 10 that an auxiliary devicewith index j=2 is associated with a “01” bit state, the BTS 10 maytransmit a signal 16 indicating a “1000” bit state to auxiliary deviceAD₂. Upon reception of the signal 16 indicating the “1000” bit state byauxiliary device AD₂, the auxiliary device AD₂ may relay the received“1000” bit state to the destination device 12, e.g., by transmitting asignal 18 indicating the “1000” bit state. The destination device 12,also having knowledge of the auxiliary devices associated therewith andtheir respective index-to-bit state association, upon reception of the“1000” bit state from auxiliary device AD₂ the destination device 12 mayappend the received “1000” bit state with the bit state “01”. It isnoted that, in accordance with some embodiments, the auxiliary deviceAD₂ may convey (per the present example) the entire bit sequence 100001to the destination device 12; that is, instead of having the destinationdevice 12 perform appending/augmentation of the received sequence “1000”by “01”, said appending and/or augmentation may be performed by theauxiliary device. Further, in accordance with other embodiments, saidappending/augmentation may be performed partially by the auxiliarydevice and partially by the destination device 12. Thus, for the presentexample, the destination device 12 may be the recipient of six (6) bitsof information, “100001”, whereas the BTS 10 may only transmit four (4)bits of information, “1000”. Accordingly, the BTS 10 may achieve areduction in bandwidth, a range extension (by using 16-QAM modulationinstead of 64-QAM) and/or a Quality-of-Service improvement (e.g., aBit-Error-Rate improvement).

It will be understood that the term “append/appending” as used hereinrefers to adding bits (i.e., appending bits) (e.g., by the destinationdevice and/or by the auxiliary device) at an end of a received bitsequence, at a beginning of a received bit sequence; and/or at any otherlocation or locations of a received bit sequence, contiguously ornon-contiguously and/or interleaved with one or more other bits “x” thatdo not relate to said received bit sequence; i.e., do not relate to theblock of N bits or the block of L bits, as illustrated above. Further,“append/appending” may depend on an understanding, algorithm and/orconvention that may have been established between the BTS, the auxiliarydevice and/or the destination device and for the wireless network towhich the BTS, auxiliary device and destination device belong to, areregistered with and/or are functioning in. Still referring to FIG. 1,those skilled in the art will appreciate that if, for example, insteadof the bit sequence “100001”, the BTS 10 desired to relay to thedestination device 12 a different bit sequence such as, for example, asequence of “100011”, the BTS 10 could have transmitted “1000” toauxiliary device number 4 (i.e., AD₄), followed by auxiliary devicenumber 4 relaying that which it would have received “1000” (eitherappended, partially appended or un-appended) to the destination device12, followed by the destination device 12 appending, partially appendingor not appending at all) the “1000” sequence by “11” thus acquiring thatwhich the BTS 10 intended to relay to the destination device; i.e., thebit sequence “100011”.

According to some embodiments, the BTS 10 may be equipped with aplurality of antennas. As an example, and referring now to FIG. 2, let'sassume that the BTS 10 is equipped with four antennas 10-1, 10-2, 10-3and 10-4 that, in this example, are configured to transmit a signal “S”by antenna 10-1, a signal “a₂S” by antenna 10-2, a signal “a₃S” byantenna 10-3 and a signal “a₄S” by antenna 10-4, as is illustrated inFIG. 2. The coefficients a₂, a₃ and a₄ may, in general, becomplex-valued. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, thesignal S being transmitted by antenna 10-1 may be received by each oneof the four auxiliary devices that are illustrated in FIG. 2, asillustrated therein. It will be understood that h₁₁, h₁₂, h₁₃ and h₁₄,as used in FIG. 2, denote channel coefficients associated, respectively,with propagation paths from antenna 10-1 to the four auxiliary devices,as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. The channelcoefficients h₁₁, h₁₂, h₁₃ and h₁₄ may, in general, be complex-valued.Further to the above, the signal a₂S being transmitted by antenna 10-2also may be received by each one of the four auxiliary devices of FIG. 2(with, in general, various other channel coefficients associatedtherewith that may also be complex-valued, as those skilled in the artwill appreciate) and each one of the signals being transmitted byantennas 10-3 and 10-4, i.e., the signals a₃S and a₄S, respectively,also may be received by each one of the four auxiliary devices of FIG. 2weighted by, in general, various other complex-valued channelcoefficients. Accordingly, letting Y₁, Y₂, Y₃ and Y₄ denote signalsreceived by auxiliary devices one through four, respectively, we maywrite:

Y ₁ =h ₁₁ S+h ₂₁ a ₂ S+h ₃₁ a ₃ S+h ₄₁ a ₄ S;

Y ₂ =h ₁₂ S+h ₂₂ a ₂ S+h ₃₂ a ₃ S+h ₄₂ a ₄ S;

Y ₃ =h ₁₃ S+h ₂₃ a ₂ S+h ₃₃ a ₃ S+h ₄₃ a ₄ S; and

Y ₄ =h ₁₄ S+h ₂₄ a ₂ S+h ₃₄ a ₃ S+h ₄₄ a ₄ S.

If the signal S corresponds, for example, to the bit sequence “1000”transmitted by the BTS 10 of FIG. 1, we may desire to have Y₁=0, Y₂=1,Y₃=0 and Y₄=0 so that auxiliary device number 2, labeled as AD₂(01) inFIG. 1, receives a measure of the signal while auxiliary devices 1, 3and 4 do not receive a substantial measure of S. Accordingly, usingestimates of the various channel coefficients (h₁₁, h₂₁, . . . , h₃₄,h₄₄), a vector-matrix equation of the form Y═HA may be solved to yieldA=H⁻¹Y; where A=(1, a₂, a₃, a₄)^(T), and Y=(0, 1, 0, 0)^(T) for theabove example, and where H denotes a channel matrix whose coefficientscomprise the various channel coefficients (h₁₁, h₂₁, . . . , h₃₄, h₄₄)defined above, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. Wenote that if, for example, the signal S were intended for AD₄(11) thenthe vector A may be calculated with the vector Y having been set toY=(0, 0, 0, 1)^(T). In the above notation, it will be understood thatH⁻¹ denotes an inverse of matrix H and that A^(T) denotes a transpose ofvector A (the term “vector A” may also be referred to as “A vector”). Itwill be understood that said estimates of the various channelcoefficients (h₁₁, h₂₁, . . . , h₃₄, h₄₄) may be estimated usingtechniques known to those skilled in the art, such as, for example,techniques based on processing of one or more pilot signals. It willfurther be understood that the vector A may be defined to have a fixedcoefficient (e.g., a unity coefficient) in any location other than itsfirst location; e.g., A=(a₁, a₂, 1, a₄)^(T); and that instead of saidfixed coefficient being assigned the value of unity (i.e., “1”), it maybe assigned a value associated with any other number such as, forexample, 1.75. Accordingly, we may have A=(a₁, a₂, 1.75, a₄)^(T) andproceed therefrom to calculate the other coefficients/components/valuesof A, namely a₁, a₂, and a₄ using the vector-matrix equation A=H⁻¹Y, asdiscussed above. As another example, besides the one just given, we mayhave A=(a₁, a₂, 0.87+j0.97, a₄)^(T) and proceed therefrom to calculatethe other coefficients/components/values of A, namely a₁, a₂, and a₄ inaccordance with the vector-matrix equation A=H⁻¹Y, as discussed earlier;wherein j=(−1)^(1/2).

It will be understood that the Destination Device (“DD”), that may, forexample, be a smartphone, may act as its own auxiliary device; i.e., theDD may act as an Auxiliary Device (“AD”) by receiving directly from theBTS information (alternatively or additionally to receiving fromauxiliary devices at least one of which may be integrated with the DD).This type of an arrangement would, of course, have to be established incooperation with the BTS. FIG. 3 illustrates an example of suchembodiments. Referring to FIG. 3, a DD 12 (e.g., a smartphone) may beconfigured to receive data from three Auxiliary Devices (i.e., from AD₁,AD₂ and/or AD₃) and the DD may also be configured to receive datadirectly from the BTS 10 (not illustrated in FIG. 3). In some sense, theDD may act as a fourth AD when receiving data directly from the BTS 10.Accordingly, for example, data received at the DD 12 from AD₁ may beaugmented by “00”; data received at the DD from AD₂ may be augmented by“01”; data received at the DD from AD₃ may be augmented by “10”; anddata received at the DD directly from the BTS 10 may be augmented by“11” (i.e., based on the DD acting as an auxiliary device AD₄). It willbe understood that the term “data received” as used in the presentparagraph means, according to some embodiments, data received persubcarrier; i.e., if, for example, a plurality of subcarriers isconcurrently (and/or non-concurrently) being received at the DD from,for example, AD₁, then, data relayed by each one of the plurality ofsubcarriers that is being received at the DD from AD₁ may be augmentedby “00”. It will also be understood that at least one of the auxiliarydevices being illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and/or 3 may also be adestination device that is acting as an auxiliary device relative to theDD being illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and/or 3 (not necessarily to theexclusion of any other function thereof). Stated differently, accordingto some embodiments, a destination device may also comprise functions ofan auxiliary device and/or an auxiliary device may also comprisefunctions of a destination device. The term “configured to” as usedherein denotes an inherent capability without further modification, notto the exclusion of any other inherent capabilities. For example, adestination device may be “configured to” communicate directly with aBTS (such as BTS 10) in the sense that the destination device isinherently capable, without further modification, of communicatingdirectly with the BTS. The destination device may for instance possessthe necessary structure (e.g., in the form of hardware,software/programming, or combination of hardware andsoftware/programming) that provides this inherent capability. Thedestination device's inherent capability to communicate directly withthe BTS, though, does not exclude the destination device from also beinginherently capable of communicating indirectly with the BTS, e.g., viaone or more auxiliary devices. Indeed, in some embodiments, thedestination device may be configured to communicate either directly orindirectly with the BTS, depending on whether the BTS instructs thedestination device to communicate with it directly or indirectly,depending on the state of L bits to be conveyed, depending on whetherany auxiliary devices are proximate to the destination device, and/ordepending on which mode of operation the destination device operates in.

Still referring to FIGS. 1 and/or 2, as appropriate, in accordance withan Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM), OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) protocol and/or any othersystem/method/protocol wherein a carrier may comprise a plurality ofsubcarriers that may be transmitted by the BTS 10 concurrently with oneanother (or substantially concurrently with one another), with each oneof the subcarriers generally transporting different information (e.g.,different bit sequences), it may be desirable, according to someembodiments, to have, for example, a first subcarrier (or a first groupof subcarriers) be received at, for example, AD₁(00), while a secondsubcarrier (or a second group of subcarriers) is being received at, forexample, AD₃(10). Accordingly, a bit sequence relayed by the firstsubcarrier may be appended by “00” (or each bit sequence of eachrespective subcarrier of the first group of subcarriers may be appendedby “00”) and a bit sequence relayed by the second subcarrier may beappended by “10” (or each bit sequence of each respective subcarrier ofthe second group of subcarriers may be appended by “10”). In order toachieve this, according to some embodiments, the first subcarrier (orthe first group of subcarriers) may be transmitted by the BTS using an“A vector” which may be derived, for example, in accordance with Y=(1,0, 0, 0)^(T) while the second subcarrier (or the second group ofsubcarriers) may be transmitted by the BTS 10 using an “A vector” thatmay be derived, for example, in accordance with Y=(0, 0, 1, 0)^(T). Itwill be understood that said first subcarrier (or said first group ofsubcarriers) and said second subcarrier (or said second group ofsubcarriers) may be transmitted by the BTS 10 concurrently with oneanother, or substantially concurrently with one another and that, eachone of said first subcarrier (or said first group of subcarriers) andsaid second subcarrier (or said second group of subcarriers) may,concurrently (or substantially concurrently) with one another, arrive atrespective first and second auxiliary devices that may be physicallydistinct and/or different from one another.

In accordance with further embodiments, and still referring to FIG. 2and to the description thereof, it will be understood that a pluralityof auxiliary devices, such as those illustrated in FIG. 2, may be usedby a BTS 10, comprising a plurality of antennas, as illustrated in FIG.2, to transmit concurrently and co-frequency a plurality of signals tothe auxiliary devices (see description and equations above via which theBTS directs a measure of a signal to a specific one of the fourauxiliary devices via an appropriate A vector selection whilemaintaining a substantially zero measure of that signal at auxiliarydevices other than said specific one of the four auxiliary devices).More specifically, using a plurality of BTS antennas, as illustrated inFIG. 2 and described above, four different signals may be launched bythe BTS 10, concurrently, wherein any two signals of said four signalsmay comprise at least some frequencies that are mutually non-exclusivebetween said any two signals. In some embodiments, a first signal ofsaid four signals comprises non-zero frequency content, followingtransmission by the BTS, throughout a frequency range from f₁ to f₂,f₁<f₂, while a second signal of said four signals also comprisesnon-zero frequency content, following transmission by the BTS 10,throughout said frequency range from f₁ to f₂. Each one of said foursignals may comprise an entire OFDM, OFDMA and/or SC-FDMA carrier (orsome variation thereof), wherein said entire OFDM, OFDMA and/or SC-FDMAcarrier comprises a plurality of sub-carriers that may occupy an entire4G-LTE bandwidth, such as, for example, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, accordingto some embodiments. Thus, in accordance with some embodiments, theauxiliary devices may be used to enable forward link concurrent andco-channel transmission of a plurality of signals, without producingunacceptable levels of interference, thus increasing spectralefficiency. Concurrent and co-channel return link transmission of aplurality of signals, using a plurality of auxiliary devices and aplurality of BTS antennas, is also possible as will be described furtherbelow in reference to FIG. 5.

According to further embodiments, in order for the BTS 10 to directdifferent subcarriers to appropriate different auxiliary devices (inorder to achieve appropriate appending of one or more bits thereof),instead of and/or in conjunction with using different “A vector”coefficients for different subcarriers (or for different groups ofsubcarriers) a first time shift may be introduced by the BTS 10 intransmitting a first subcarrier (or a first group of subcarriers) and asecond time shift, that may differ from the first time shift, may beintroduced by the BTS 10 in transmitting a second subcarrier (or asecond group of subcarriers); wherein each one of said first and secondtime shifts may represent, according to some embodiments, a plus or aminus “delta” about a nominal transmission time (or any other deltaabout the nominal transmission time); and wherein each auxiliary device(or at least one auxiliary device) of the plurality of auxiliary devicesmay be configured to examine said time shift or “delta” to determinewhether or not a particular reception is intended for it, in order toprocess that reception, in accordance with principles described herein,and to refrain from processing other receptions that are intended forother auxiliary devices. A number of different time shifts may be usedby the BTS 10 corresponding uniquely to a number of auxiliary devices.

According to additional embodiments, instead of, or in conjunction withusing different “A vector” coefficients for different subcarriers (orfor different groups of subcarriers) and/or a first time shift intransmitting the first subcarrier (or the first group of subcarriers)and a second time shift, that may differ from the first time shift, intransmitting the second subcarrier (or the second group of subcarriers),a first modulation may be used by the BTS 10 in transmitting the firstsubcarrier (or the first group of subcarriers) and a second modulation,that may differ from the first modulation, may be used by the BTS intransmitting the second subcarrier (or the second group of subcarriers).Said first modulation may be, for example, any one of (or anycombination and/or variation of) QPSK, OQPSK, GMSK, PPM PAM, FSK, anyvariant of QAM (e. g., 4 QAM, 8 QAM, 16 QAM, 32 QAM, 64 QAM, etc.) orany variant of PSK such as, for example, 8 PSK, and/or any othermodulation. Same may be said for said second modulation; wherein eachauxiliary device (or at least one auxiliary device) of the plurality ofauxiliary devices may be configured to examine said modulation and/orsaid time shift or “delta” in order to determine the auxiliary devicethat a reception is intended for.

In yet other embodiments, in lieu of, or in addition to, any one of thetechniques described above for directing a carrier/subcarrier (orcarriers/subcarriers) to a desired auxiliary device of the plurality ofauxiliary devices, an Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, or any otheraddress or coordinate (geographic and/or otherwise), associatedtherewith may be used by the BTS 10 to direct said carrier/subcarrier(or said carriers/subcarriers) to said desired auxiliary device usingsaid IP address, or said any other address or coordinate, of the desiredauxiliary device as a discriminator in order to direct saidcarrier/subcarrier (or said carriers/subcarriers) to said desiredauxiliary device. Still in accordance with further embodiments, in lieuof, or in addition to, any one of the techniques described above fordirecting a carrier/subcarrier (or carriers/subcarriers) to a desiredauxiliary device of the plurality of auxiliary devices, different bandsof frequencies and/or different polarizations (e.g., linear, verticallypolarized, horizontally polarized, right-hand circularly polarized,left-hand circularly polarized) may be used by the BTS 10 as adiscriminator in order to direct different carriers/subcarriers todifferent desired auxiliary devices that may be associated,respectively, via an index assignment thereof, with said different bandsof frequencies and/or different polarizations.

It will be understood that a destination device (e.g., a smartphone) maybe configured to detect/identify one or more auxiliary devices that maybe proximate thereto and/or are capable of communicating therewith(without necessarily being proximate thereto), and relay suchinformation to the BTS 10 and/or to the one or more auxiliary devices.Alternatively, or in combination with the above, one or more (or all)auxiliary devices may be configured to detect/identify one or moredestination devices (e.g., smartphones) that may be proximate theretoand/or are capable of communicating therewith and relay such informationto the BTS and/or to the destination devices. Such information may, forexample, comprise a unique identity associated with each one of thedetected/identified auxiliary devices and/or destination devices and anindex associated therewith. It is noted that an index associated with anauxiliary device may be destination device dependent owing to oneauxiliary device being able to serve a plurality of destination devicesconcurrently. It is pointed out that some destination devices may act asauxiliary devices. The specific way in which received bits are to beappended by an auxiliary device and/or by a destination device (e.g., atan end of a received bit sequence, at a beginning of a received bitsequence, in-between beginning and end, continuously, non-continuously,interleaved or in accordance with some combination thereof as discussedearlier) may be decided by the auxiliary device, by the destinationdevice and/or by the BTS as long as all devices involved in the decision(i.e., the auxiliary device, the destination device and/or the BTS) haveknowledge of, and/or agree with, the decision. It will also beunderstood that a BTS may be configured to detect/identify one or moreauxiliary devices, that may be proximate to one another, and may also beproximate to a destination device and/or may be capable of communicatingwith the destination device (without necessarily being proximatethereto), and relay such information to the destination device and/or tothe one or more auxiliary devices. The BTS may perform such functionsusing location information (e.g., GPS coordinates) that may have beenreceived at the BTS from said one or more auxiliary devices anddestination device and/or the BTS may perform such functions using othermeans that may be independent of said one or more auxiliary devices,destination device and/or GPS coordinates.

According to some embodiments, the BTS 10 transmits information to oneor more auxiliary devices and/or to one or more destination devicesusing frequencies allocated to a cellular communications system forcellular communications (i.e., frequencies of a cellular band offrequencies), whereas the one or more auxiliary devices transmitinformation to a destination device using at least one frequency that ismutually exclusive to frequencies allocated for cellular communicationsand/or using at least one frequency that is mutually exclusive tofrequencies allocated for cellular communications in the vicinity of theBTS and/or the destination device. In other embodiments, the BTS 10transmits information to one or more auxiliary devices and/or to one ormore destination devices using frequencies allocated to a cellularcommunications system for cellular communications, and the one or moreauxiliary devices transmit information to a destination device usingfrequencies allocated to a cellular communications system for cellularcommunications and/or frequencies of a satellite band of frequenciesthat may be used terrestrially.

According to yet other embodiments, the BTS 10 transmits information toone or more auxiliary devices using a first protocol, such as, forexample, a 4G LTE protocol and/or a 5G protocol, whereas the one or moreauxiliary devices transmit information to a destination device using asecond protocol that differs from the first protocol, such as, forexample, a Bluetooth protocol and/or a Wi-Fi protocol. In otherembodiments, the BTS 10 transmits information to one or more auxiliarydevices using the first protocol, and the one or more auxiliary devicestransmit information to a destination device also using the firstprotocol and/or a variant thereof. Said variant may, for example be, a5G protocol whereas the BTS 10 uses a 4G protocol.

The destination device 12 may be capable of various modes of operationwhereby according to a first mode of operation, the destination deviceis configured to receive information from one or more auxiliary devicesand is not configured to receive information directly from the BTS 10(i.e., whether acting as an auxiliary device or otherwise); according toa second mode of operation, the destination device is configured toreceive information directly from the BTS 10 (e.g., apart from acting asan auxiliary device) and is not configured to receive information fromany auxiliary device; according to a third mode of operation, thedestination device is configured to receive information directly fromthe BTS 10 (i.e., either with the destination device acting as anauxiliary device or not acting as an auxiliary device) and is alsoconfigured to receive information from one or more auxiliary devices.Besides the above and, according to some embodiments in conjunction withat least some of the above, the destination device may be capable offunctioning, or be configurable to operate, in additional modes (i.e.,the destination device may be configurable to perform further functionsthat may be associated with other modes) such as, for example,multi-band operation (cellular frequencies used in the US, cellularfrequencies used in Europe, cellular frequencies used in Japan, etc.),multi-protocol operation (GSM, CDMA, 4G LTE, 5G, etc.). In someembodiments, the destination device in cooperation with the BTS 10and/or in cooperation with one or more auxiliary devices (or the BTS 10in cooperation with the destination device and/or in cooperation withone or more auxiliary devices) establishes a mode of operationresponsive to at least one of a location of the destination device, adistance of the destination device from the BTS 10, a time-of-day, avelocity associated with the destination device, a size of data that isto be transmitted (from the BTS 10 to the destination device and/or fromthe destination device to the BTS 10) and a security/privacy concernassociated with the destination device and/or the BTS 10. The mode ofoperation may also depend upon other concerns/parameters as will surelyoccur to those skilled in the art.

Regarding the security/privacy concern mentioned above, those skilled inthe art will appreciate that, a level of security, privacy and/orencryption may be provided using inventive concepts and embodimentsdescribed herein owing to certain specific information being relayed viameans other than direct transmission but instead, via means of auxiliarydevice selection and relying on the auxiliary device selection toprovide information bits that are then appended to bits that may havebeen transmitted and received via said direct transmission. It ispointed out that, according to some embodiments, a number of bits ofinformation that may be transmitted explicitly, over-the-air and/orotherwise, by said direct transmission (e.g., by a BTS, auxiliary deviceand/or destination device) may be zero. In such embodiments, atransmitter (such as a transmitter of a BTS and/or destination device)may make an auxiliary device selection and inform the selected auxiliarydevice of the selection (wirelessly and/or otherwise via, for example,the internet) and then, send an appropriate signal thereto that isdevoid of explicit information content related to the N+L bits to beconveyed. Accordingly, in such embodiments, the selected auxiliarydevice sends a signal to the destination device and that signal may notexplicitly include any of the N+L information bits. To this void ofexplicit information bits, the destination device may still receive Lbits of information whose state is associated with the specificauxiliary device that has sent an appropriate signal to the destinationdevice, as discussed earlier. Thus, the destination device may receiveN+L bits of information, wherein the number N may be zero, but whereinthe number L is greater than zero. Thus, the destination device is therecipient of information that the transmitter desired to convey to thedestination device without the transmitter having explicitly conveyedinformation thereto by explicitly transmitting information bitsthereto/therefor. That is, the transmitter implicitly conveys the L bitsof information via its selection of which auxiliary device is to send asignal (e.g., comprising the N bits of information) to the destinationdevice. Implicitly conveying the L bits of information may thereby avoidthe L bits of information being transmitted over-the-air in someembodiments so as to provide a form of security, privacy, and/orencryption with respect to the L bits of information.

It will be understood that although various inventive concepts, asdescribed hereinabove, have been applied to BTS transmissions (i.e., toforward link transmissions from the BTS to the destination device), thevarious inventive concepts are also applicable to destination devicetransmissions (i.e., to return link transmissions from the destinationdevice to the BTS), as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.It will also be understood that for a return link application of one ormore of the inventive concepts described herein, in order to provide areturn link embodiment, that which has been referred to thus far as thedestination device becomes the transmitter and that which has beenreferred to thus far as the BTS becomes the destination device orreceiver.

According to additional embodiments, a structure such as, for example, avehicle (e.g., a car, truck, train, airplane, drone), a building (e.g.,a home, business), a light post, a road, a highway, etc. may be equippedwith at least one access point and/or at least one auxiliary device (andin accordance with some embodiments, may be equipped with a plurality ofaccess points and/or a plurality of auxiliary devices) that may beconnected to the internet (and/or an intranet) and to at least onefacility of at least one service provider such as, for example, AT&TWireless, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. The at least one access pointand/or auxiliary device may, according to some embodiments, be similarto a femtocell and may be configured to transmit/receive cellularfrequencies (and/or other frequencies) that the at least one operator isauthorized to use. Imagine now a community, town and/or city in which atleast some structures, as those mentioned above, are equipped/configuredwith at least one access point and/or auxiliary device. In at least someinstances, a user device (e.g., a smartphone) may spend a percentage oftime (that may be a large percentage of time) being served by one ormore such access points and/or auxiliary devices while reducingcommunications load/traffic from/to one or more conventional basestations. Accordingly, a substantially regular lattice of access pointsand/or auxiliary devices (or a plurality of access points and/orauxiliary devices that need not necessarily be configured in accordancewith said substantially regular lattice) may be provided by said atleast one operator to serve user devices. Such access points and/orauxiliary devices may be configured to operate in an “open access mode”,similar to the way a conventional base station operates, whereby anyuser device that is registered with and/or is authenticated by said atleast one operator may receive communications service. Accordingly,unlike a femtocell configuration whereby only a predetermined number ofuser devices may be authorized to receive communications service, as maybe determined/specified by an owner of the femtocell, one or more accesspoints and/or auxiliary devices, operating in said open access mode, maybe configured to provide service to any user device associated with theat least one operator. FIG. 4 is illustrative of such a conceptaccording to some embodiments.

In reference to FIG. 4, at least some (and in some embodiments all) ofsaid one or more access points and/or auxiliary devices may be connectedwith one another (wirelessly and/or otherwise; via links 13 and/or 14 ofFIG. 4), may be connected to the internet (or to an intranet; e.g., aprivate IP-based network; links 14) and may also be connected with atleast one conventional base station in order to provide improvedcommunications service to a user device by, for example, providinghand-off between one access point and another and/or between one accesspoint and the at least one conventional base station (depending, forexample, on movement of the user device and/or a level of interference).According to some embodiments, diversity transmission and/or diversityreception to/from the user device and the at least one base stationand/or one or more access points may also be provided using techniquesknown to those skilled in the art.

Still referring to FIG. 4, in accordance with yet additionalembodiments, at least some (and in accordance with some embodiments all)of said access points (“APs”) may further be configured to serve asAuxiliary Devices (“ADs”), as discussed earlier, not necessarily to theexclusion of any other function thereof as described herein. Such ADsmay be configured to, for example, receive information from a BTS 10(such as, for example, a conventional BTS), wirelessly and/or otherwise,and convey such information to a destination device (such as, forexample, a smartphone). The information received from said BTS 10 maybe, for example, one or more subcarriers in accordance with, forexample, a 4G LTE protocol, as described earlier. In order to providecommunications to a specific Destination Device (“DD”), a group ofaccess points that may be proximate to said specific DD and may becommanded to operate as ADs therefor, may receive information from theBTS 10 wirelessly (as described earlier) and/or via theinternet/intranet (links 14). The information that may be received by anAD via the internet/intranet and/or otherwise may, for example, be datarelating to how said AD may configure a DFT/FFT thereof and/or what binsof said DFT/FFT may be looked at by (i.e., are relevant to) said AD andneed to be relayed to the DD 12 so that the DD 12 may perform anappropriate augmentation thereto of the L bits as discussed earlier. Insome embodiments, the information that may be received at an AD via theinternet/intranet and/or otherwise, may comprise said data relating tothe DFT/FFT of the AD, a number of subcarriers, data associated with anumber of subcarriers that may be relayed by the AD to a DD, dataassociated with an IDFT/IFFT of the AD and/or other data. In furtherembodiments, all information required by an AD in order to serve a DD 12may be received at the AD via the internet/intranet.

Access points as described above may be provided by a single serviceprovider or a group of service providers in cooperation with oneanother. An access point may be connected to the internet/intranet viafiber-optical cable and may thus provide very large information flow(that may comprise bi-directional information flow). An access point maybe multi-mode capable and multi-band capable and may provide anentertainment service (e.g., television, movies on demand, etc.), aninternet service and/or a mobile multimedia service (e.g., service tosmartphones). An access point may be configured to provide informationto user devices (e.g., televisions, personal computers, smartphones,home appliances, vehicles, etc.) using wireless and/or wired means suchas, for example, cellular frequencies, unlicensed band frequencies,microwave frequencies, any other frequencies including those that may beallocated to Internet-of-Things (“IoT”) communications, copper cable,infrared link(s), ultraviolet link(s), fiber optical cable and/or anyother means that allows/allow a connection to be established (eitherdirectly and/or indirectly) between the access point and a user deviceand further allows/allow transference of information. Thus, according tosome embodiments, an access point (“AP”) that may also be able tofunction as an auxiliary device (“AD”), such as those indicated in FIG.4 as “(AP/AD)₁” through “(AP/AD)₄” may be a multi-mode, multi-bandmulti-media and/or a multi-medium (in terms of connectivity andtransference of information) device.

Further, the access point may be configured to provide information toone or more user devices (e.g., smartphones) using any technology, airinterface and/or protocol including an Internet-of-Things (“IoT”)interface/protocol, a Fourth Generation Long Term Evolution (“4G LTE”)interface/protocol, an Ultra Wide Band (“UWB”) interface/protocol, aWi-Fi interface/protocol, a WiMAX interface/protocol, an OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiplexed (“OFDM”) interface/protocol, anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (“OFDMA”)interface/protocol, a single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access(“SC-FDMA”) interface/protocol, a Code Division Multiplexed (“CDM”)interface/protocol, a Code Division Multiple Access (“CDMA”)interface/protocol, a Time Division Multiplexed (“TDM”)interface/protocol, a Time Division Multiple Access (“TDMA”)interface/protocol and/or any other interface/protocol and/ortechnology. It will be understood that a transference of informationbetween the access point and a plurality of user devices may involve aplurality of different technologies and/or protocols and may alsoinvolve different frequency bands and/or transmission means. FIG. 4, forexample, illustrates a plurality of access points that may be operatingas auxiliary devices (not necessarily to the exclusion of any othermode/function thereof), wherein each is using a different band offrequencies (B1 through B4) to communicate with a destination device.According to some embodiments, the access point may communicate with asmartphone wirelessly using, for example, a 4G LTE protocol and cellularfrequencies, while the access point may communicate wirelessly with afirst television using, for example, a UWB protocol and may be furthercommunicating with a second television using non-wireless means such as,for example, fiber optical cable transmission means. Further, the accesspoint may be communicating with a computer using a wireless Wi-Fiprotocol and an unlicensed band of frequencies. Many other combinationsof the above are possible as will be appreciated by those skilled in theart.

According to some embodiments, in lieu of the above or in combinationwith the above, a substantially regular lattice of drones (or one ormore drones that do not necessarily conform to said substantiallyregular lattice), each one of which may be equipped with an access pointand/or auxiliary device, may be deployed by said at least one operatorover a geographic area such as, for example, a city, town and/orcommunity in order to provide communications service to user devices.

A plurality of access points, that may also be capable of functioning asauxiliary devices, may be interconnected with one another (for example,see links 13 and/or 14 of FIG. 4) directly, indirectly, wirelesslyand/or otherwise. This interconnection between the plurality of accesspoints may allow a transference of information from a first access pointto a second access point and/or towards a final destination that may bea facility of the at least one operator and/or a BTS. Further, theinterconnections between access points may provide/enable a distributedintelligence whereby various access points (such as, for example, accesspoints that are proximate to one another) share information (e.g.,frequency usage, Quality-of-Service, data rate required by a DD,diversity operation required by a DD or should be offered to a DD, ahand-off that should take place in order to improve service to/from a DDand/or levels of interference) and may thus be able to adaptively varyfrequencies being used, bandwidth, protocol, power level, connectivitywith one another and/or antenna directivity/pointing.

An access point that is situated in/on a structure may provide aplurality of functions and/or a plurality of communications modes to aplurality of different devices some of which may be associated with thestructure (or a user/owner of the structure) and some of which may havenothing to do with the structure (or the user/owner of the structure)but may simply be proximate to the structure and/or are capable ofconnecting and communicating with the access point. If, for example, myhouse is equipped with an access point (call it “my access point”), mysmartphone may be served by my access point using cellular and/or otherthan cellular frequencies (e.g., Wi-Fi frequencies). Further, asmartphone of someone else who happens to be proximate to my house mayalso be served by my access point using a frequency band that may differfrom that used by my access point to serve my smartphone. Thus, aplurality of smartphones that are registered with one or more operatorsand are proximate to my access point, may be served, by said one or moreoperators, via my access point, in accordance with a service profile ofeach. Further, said one or more operators may use my access pointselectively in providing other services/modes. Such other services/modesthat may be provided selectively may, for example, include atelevision/entertainment service for my house and/or an internet servicefor my house. Such services that are provided selectively may require,for enablement, a special access code that may be provided to the user(e.g., to me for my house) by an operator providing the service.Accordingly, a regime is envisioned whereby each building/structure of aplurality of buildings/structures is equipped with an “open” accesspoint that is configured to serve each device of a plurality of devicesin its vicinity in accordance with a service profile of each. An“operator's operator” may install and maintain a plurality of openaccess points, at least one of which may be installed and maintained bysaid operator's operator on each of said building/structure of saidplurality of buildings/structures. The operator's operator may thenlease usage of a number of said plurality of open access points to anoperator (such as Verizon or AT&T Wireless). Each open access point maycomprise a multi-mode and/or multi-band functionality so that each openaccess point may be leased and used by a plurality of operators (e.g.,by both Verizon and AT&T Wireless).

For the avoidance of doubt, it will be understood that an entity that islabeled, or referred to, herein as an access point may also be capableof functioning as an auxiliary device, not to the exclusion of anyaspect of its access point functionality. It will further be understoodthat, as a destination device changes location and/or for any otherreason(s), a number of access points and/or auxiliary devices that maybe capable, or allowed/instructed, to serve the destination device maychange. This change may be dynamic and may take place (subject toappropriate coordination between all devices involved) as often as onceper signaling interval.

According to some embodiments, an access point may be capable oftransmitting and/or receiving over a plurality of different bands offrequencies (or “frequency bands”) that may be used for cellularcommunications, such as, for example, a 700 MHz band of frequencies, a900 MHz band of frequencies, a 1,500 MHz frequency band, a 1,700 MHzfrequency band, etc. (see illustration of FIG. 4; links B1-B4).Accordingly, in some embodiments, a destination device that may bereceiving, for example, carriers/subcarriers from say four differentauxiliary devices (as is illustrated in FIG. 4), may be receiving overfour different bands of frequencies (see links B1-B4 of FIG. 4); whereineach of the bands of frequencies may be associated with an index thatmay be indicative of a state of the L bits that may be appended by thedestination device to bits conveyed thereto by each carrier/subcarrierfrom a specific auxiliary device.

According to embodiments of FIG. 5, a plurality of devices, such as, forexample, the four devices labeled 12-1 through 12-4 in FIG. 5, may beused to launch, according to some embodiments, concurrently andco-frequency, a plurality of signals (e.g., four signals according tothe example of FIG. 5) towards a respective plurality of antennas of aBTS 10 (e.g., towards antennas 10-1 through 10-4 of BTS 10 of FIG. 5).Specifically, in reference to FIG. 5, signals a, b, c, and d may,according to some embodiments, be launched/transmitted by the ensembleof devices 12-1 through 12-4 towards the BTS 10; wherein saidlaunched/transmitted may occur concurrently and co-channel. Morespecifically, one of the devices 12-1 through 12-4 may be labelled as a“master”, wherein that master desires to communicate/transmitinformation to the BTS 10. For purposes of illustration, we will calldevice 12-1 the master. The master, with possible support from the BTS10 and/or with input(s) from other devices, some of which may be other“slave” devices that may be proximate thereto, may become aware of thepresence of said other slave devices (i.e., devices 12-2, 12-3, 12-4),and may then exchange information therewith and coordinate transmissionstherewith whereby device 12-1 (the master) transmits a signal a₁; device12-2 (a slave) transmits, concurrently and co-frequency with device12-1, a signal a₂; device 12-3 (a second slave) transmits, concurrentlyand co-frequency with device 12-1 and device 12-2, a signal a₃; anddevice 12-4 (a third slave) transmits, concurrently and co-frequencywith device 12-1, device 12-2 and device 12-3, a signal a₄, as isillustrated in FIG. 5. Accordingly, a=a₁+a₂+a₃+a₄, wherein all componentsignals of a, a₁, a₂, a₃ and a₄, occur concurrently (i.e., overlap intime) and further, are transmitted co-frequency (i.e., overlap infrequency). The master may become cognizant of said other slave devices(i.e., devices 12-2, 12-3, 12-4) by communicating with the BTS 10 and/orwith said other slave devices. It is underscored that the componentsignals of signal a are launched/transmitted, by devices 12-1 through12-4, as illustrated in FIG. 5, such that antenna 10-1 of the BTS 10receives a measure of information that is associated with and/or isrelated to signal a while antennas 10-2, 10-3 and 10-4 of the BTS 10(see FIG. 5) do not receive said measure of information that isassociated with and/or is related to signal a (or receive a negligiblemeasure of such information); this may be accomplished by using theapproach that has already been described in reference to FIG. 2. Otherapproaches that may occur to those skilled in the art may also be used.Associating with antennas 10-1 through 10-4 “auxiliary device” meaning,receiving at 10-1 may be associated with appending any received bits at10-1 by the bits “00”; similarly, receiving at 10-2 may be associatedwith appending any received bits at 10-2 with “01”; receiving at 10-3may be associated with appending any received bits at 10-3 with “10”;and receiving at 10-4 may be associated with appending any received bitsat 10-4 with “11”. Alternatively, receiving simultaneously andco-frequency at 10-1 through 10-4 may be employed to increase bandwidthefficiency. Yet further, receiving simultaneously but not co-frequencyat 10-1 through 10-4 may be used to allow a plurality of transmitters,such as all four mobile devices 12-1 through 12-4 of FIG. 5, to performappending.

A correspondence that may be made between FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 may be asfollows: the auxiliary devices 1 through 4 of FIG. 2 correspond to BTS10 antennas 10-1 through 10-4 of FIG. 5; the signal “S” of FIG. 2corresponds to signal “a₁” of FIG. 5; the signal “a₂S” of FIG. 2corresponds to signal “a₂” of FIG. 5; the signal “a₃S” of FIG. 2corresponds to signal “a₃” of FIG. 5; and the signal “a₄S” of FIG. 2corresponds to signal “a₄” of FIG. 5. Accordingly, in a similar fashion,the remaining antennas of the BTS 10 of FIG. 5, antennas 10-2, 10-3 and10-4, may receive information measures that may be associated withand/or are related to signals b, c and d, respectively. Each one ofsignals b, c and d, may be independent of one another and may also beindependent of signal a. Further, in some embodiments, each one ofsignals b, c and d, may occur concurrently and co-frequency with signala. In accordance with other embodiments, each one of signals a, b, c andd, may occur concurrently with one another but may not necessarily beco-frequency with one another.

In some embodiments, for example, device 12-1 transmits a signal b₁;device 12-2 transmits, concurrently and co-frequency with device 12-1, asignal b₂; device 12-3 transmits, concurrently and co-frequency withdevice 12-1 and device 12-2, a signal b₃; and device 12-4 transmits,concurrently and co-frequency with device 12-1, device 12-2 and device12-3, a signal b₄, as is illustrated in FIG. 5. Accordingly,b=b₁+b₂+b₃+b₄, wherein all component signals of b, b₁, b₂, b₃ and b₄,occur concurrently (i.e., overlap in time) and further, are transmittedco-frequency (i.e., overlap in frequency). Although not shown in FIG. 5,the devices 12-1 through 12-4 may also transmit respective componentsignals, for signals c and d, in much the same way as described abovefor signals a and b. The signals a, b, c and d may be formed by devices12-1 through 12-4 (as described above) and may be launched concurrentlywith one another. Device 12-1 may be transmitting x₁=a₁+b₁+c₁+d₁; device12-2 may be transmitting x₂=a₂+b₂+c₂+d₂; device 12-3 may be transmittingx₃=a₃+b₃+c₃+d₃; and device 12-4 may be transmitting x₄=a₄+b₄+c₄+d₄ suchthat, signals x₁, x₂, x₃ and x₄ may combine at the various antennas ofBTS 10 to yield:

a=a ₁ +a ₂ +a ₃ +a ₄; at antenna 10-1;

b=b ₁ +b ₂ +b ₃ +b ₄; at antenna 10-2;

c=c ₁ +c ₂ +c ₃ +c ₄; at antenna 10-3; and

d=d ₁ +d ₂ +d ₃ +d ₄; at antenna 10-4.

Further to the above, it will be understood that situations may arisewherein a first system is not using all frequencies that have beenallocated to it (e.g., by the FCC), whereas a second system is usingnearly all, or all, frequencies allocated to it. In order for the secondsystem to potentially use at least some frequencies allocated to thefirst system and not being used by the first system, a communicationsconnection between the two systems may be used. The communicationsconnection may be a wireless and/or non-wireless connection and may beused to inform, in the present example, the second system of frequenciesthat are available for use by the second system, on an opportunistic,temporary, secondary and/or non-interfering basis, while the firstsystem is not using such frequencies. Further, as soon as the firstsystem needs to use frequencies that it has allowed the second system touse, the first system may, via said communications connection, notifythe second system to release, let go, and/or cease usage of suchfrequencies. A compensation by the second system to the first system mayalso be provided for allowing by the first system the second system touse frequencies of the first system. Accordingly, a regime is envisionedwhereby a plurality of systems are interconnected with one another andshare with one another frequencies, as allowed by traffic loadsassociated therewith. That is, system 1 may be connected to system 2, tosystem 3, . . . and to system 7 (assuming there are 7 systems that arecapable of sharing frequencies). Similarly, system 2 may be connected tosystem 1, to system 3, to system 4, . . . and to system 7; etc. A systembelonging to said 7 systems that needs frequencies in addition to itsown may make a request and, responsive to said request, at least one(possibly more than one) of the 7 systems may respond with an allocationof frequencies for the system making the request. It is pointed out thatthe opportunistic usage of frequencies as described above, via saidcommunications connection, appears to be more reliable than otherapproaches such as, for example, sensing used/unused frequencies.

The present approach of using said communications connection, asdescribed above, may be based on an algorithm that takes into account aplurality of variables that may include, estimation of interferencelevels and/or feedback (via said communications connection) of aninterference level and may further take into account, for example,geography, a location of system that is requesting frequencies, distancebetween one system and another, time-of-day and/or weather conditions.Said algorithm and communications connection as described above, maymaximize frequency usage and/or frequency reuse between a plurality ofsystems while minimizing harmful interference. As those skilled in theart can appreciate, frequency reuse comprises a plurality of systemsthat may be using a given frequency or a given set of frequenciesconcurrently with one another while, preferably, avoiding harmfulinterference.

In view of the above, a transmitter according to some embodiments hereinimplicitly conveys certain information (e.g., L bits) to a destinationdevice by explicitly conveying other information (e.g., N bits and/orany other signal) to the destination device via a certain one ofmultiple auxiliary devices. Different ones of the multiples auxiliarydevices in this regard are negotiated as, designated as, or otherwiseunderstood by the transmitter and the destination device as beingassociated with different information (e.g., different values for Lbits). Accordingly, the mere relay of a signal from the transmitter tothe destination device via a certain one of the auxiliary devicesimplicitly indicates certain information (e.g., certain values for Lbits) to the destination device. The relayed signal may itself conveyinformation (e.g., N bits) to the destination device in someembodiments.

In other embodiments, a transmitter implicitly conveys certaininformation (e.g., L bits) to an auxiliary device for relay of thatinformation to a destination device. The transmitter may similarlyimplicitly convey the certain information to the auxiliary device byexplicitly conveying other information (e.g., N bits and/or any othersignal) to the auxiliary device. The auxiliary device may for instancebe one of multiple auxiliary devices associated with differentinformation (e.g., different values for the L bits). Accordingly, themere reception by a certain auxiliary device of a signal from thetransmitter implicitly indicates the certain information (e.g., certainvalues for the L bits) to the certain auxiliary device. The receivedsignal may itself convey information (e.g., N bits) to the auxiliarydevice in some embodiments. Regardless, the auxiliary device may thenrelay the implicitly conveyed information (e.g., the L bits) to thedestination device. In some embodiments, the auxiliary device may alsorelay any explicitly conveyed information (e.g., the N bits) to thedestination device. For example, in one embodiment, the auxiliary deviceforms N+L bits by appending the L bits to the N bits and transmits asignal to the destination device explicitly indicating the N+L bits.

Broadly, then, a transmitter herein may perform processing shown in FIG.6 according to some embodiments for conveying N+L bits of informationfrom the transmitter to a destination device via auxiliary deviceselection. The processing comprises selecting, by said transmitter andfrom a plurality of auxiliary devices that are respectively associatedwith different possible states of L bits, an auxiliary device that isassociated with a state of L bits of information to be conveyed to thedestination device, wherein L≥1 (Block 100). The processing furtherincludes conveying the N+L bits of information from the transmitter tothe destination device via the selected auxiliary device, without thetransmitter transmitting any of said L bits of information to thedestination device or the selected auxiliary device, by the transmittertransmitting a signal to the selected auxiliary device, wherein thesignal comprises N bits of information, and wherein N≥0 (Block 110).

In some embodiments, the processing may also comprise receivinginformation indicating one or more of the plurality of auxiliary devicesas being proximate to and/or capable of communicating with thedestination device (Block 120).

Correspondingly, a destination device may perform processing shown inFIG. 7 according to some embodiments for being conveyed N+L bits ofinformation from a transmitter. The processing includes receiving at thedestination device a signal from an auxiliary device of a plurality ofauxiliary devices that are respectively associated with differentpossible states of L bits (Block 200). Here, the signal comprises N bitsof information to be conveyed to the destination device but is devoid ofL bits of information to be conveyed to the destination device, whereinL≥1 and N≥0. The processing further includes determining the N+L bits ofinformation conveyed by the transmitter to the destination device asincluding the N bits of information comprised in the received signal andL bits that have a state associated with the auxiliary device from whichthe signal is received (Block 210). In some embodiments, for example,determining the N+L bits of information comprises augmenting by thedestination device said N bits of information by appending thereto atleast some of the L bits with a state that is associated with theauxiliary device from which the signal is received.

In one or more embodiments, processing may also include identifying atleast one auxiliary device that is proximate to and/or capable ofcommunicating with the destination device and informing the transmitterof the identified at least one auxiliary device that is proximate toand/or capable of communicating with the destination device (Block 220).

Still further, an auxiliary device herein may perform processing shownin FIG. 8 according to some embodiments for conveying N+L bits ofinformation from a transmitter to a destination device via the auxiliarydevice. The processing comprises receiving, at the auxiliary device andfrom the transmitter, a signal that comprises N bits of information tobe conveyed to the destination device and that is devoid of L bits ofinformation to be conveyed to the destination device, wherein L≥1 andN≥0 (Block 300). The processing also includes responsive to receivingthe signal from the transmitter, conveying the N+L bits of informationfrom the auxiliary device to the destination device based on theauxiliary device being associated with a state of the L bits ofinformation to be conveyed, wherein said conveying comprises theauxiliary device transmitting to the destination device a signal thatcomprises the N bits of information (Block 310). In some embodiments,for example, the method also comprises appending said N bits ofinformation with at least some bits of said L bits of informationresponsive to having received the signal comprising said N bits ofinformation.

In one or more embodiments, transmitting by the auxiliary device asignal comprising said N bits of information comprises transmitting bythe auxiliary device a signal comprising said N bits of information andat least some bits of said L bits of information.

Note that the transmitter as described above may perform the processingherein by implementing any functional means or units. In one embodiment,for example, the transmitter comprises respective circuits configured toperform the steps shown in FIG. 6. The circuits in this regard maycomprise circuits dedicated to performing certain functional processingand/or one or more microprocessors in conjunction with memory. Inembodiments that employ memory, which may comprise one or several typesof memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory, cachememory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc., the memorystores program code that, when executed by the one or moremicroprocessors, carries out the techniques described herein. That is,in some embodiments memory of the transmitter contains instructionsexecutable by the processing circuitry whereby the transmitter isconfigured to carry out the processing herein.

FIG. 9 illustrates additional details of a transmitter 400 in accordancewith one or more embodiments. The transmitter 400 may for example be theBTS 10 (e.g., in forward link embodiments), or a smartphone, userequipment or other wireless device (e.g., in reverse link embodiments).Regardless, as shown, the transmitter 400 includes processing circuitry410 and communication circuitry 420. The communication circuitry 420 isconfigured to communication with one or more other nodes, e.g.,destination device(s) and/or auxiliary device(s). Where the transmitter400 transmits using wireless technology, the communication circuitry 420is configured to transmit and/or receive via one or more antennas. Theprocessing circuitry 410 is configured to perform processing describedabove, e.g., in FIG. 6, such as by executing instructions stored inmemory 430. Note that this does not preclude the processing circuitry410 from being configured to perform other processing. Nor does thispreclude the transmitter 400 from comprising other processing circuitry(not shown) configured to perform other processing.

Similarly, a destination device as described above may perform theprocessing herein by implementing any functional means or units. In oneembodiment, for example, the destination device comprises respectivecircuits configured to perform the steps shown in FIG. 7. The circuitsin this regard may comprise circuits dedicated to performing certainfunctional processing and/or one or more microprocessors in conjunctionwith memory. In embodiments that employ memory, which may comprise oneor several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-accessmemory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices,etc., the memory stores program code that, when executed by the one ormore microprocessors, carries out the techniques described herein. Thatis, in some embodiments memory of the destination device containsinstructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby thedestination device is configured to carry out the processing herein.

FIG. 10 illustrates additional details of a destination device 500 inaccordance with one or more embodiments. The destination device 500 mayfor example be the BTS 10 (e.g., in reverse link embodiments), or asmartphone, user equipment or other wireless device (e.g., in forwardlink embodiments). Regardless, as shown, the destination device 500includes processing circuitry 510 and communication circuitry 520. Thecommunication circuitry 520 is configured to communication with one ormore other nodes, e.g., transmitter(s) and/or auxiliary device(s). Wherethe destination device 500 transmits using wireless technology, thecommunication circuitry 520 is configured to transmit and/or receive viaone or more antennas. The processing circuitry 510 is configured toperform processing described above, e.g., in FIG. 7, such as byexecuting instructions stored in memory 530. Note that this does notpreclude the processing circuitry 510 from being configured to performother processing. Nor does this preclude the destination device 500 fromcomprising other processing circuitry (not shown) configured to performother processing.

Further, an auxiliary device as described above may perform theprocessing herein by implementing any functional means or units. In oneembodiment, for example, the auxiliary device comprises respectivecircuits configured to perform the steps shown in FIG. 8. The circuitsin this regard may comprise circuits dedicated to performing certainfunctional processing and/or one or more microprocessors in conjunctionwith memory. In embodiments that employ memory, which may comprise oneor several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-accessmemory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices,etc., the memory stores program code that, when executed by the one ormore microprocessors, carries out the techniques described herein. Thatis, in some embodiments memory of the auxiliary device containsinstructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby theauxiliary device is configured to carry out the processing herein.

FIG. 11 illustrates additional details of an auxiliary device 600 inaccordance with one or more embodiments. The auxiliary device 600 mayfor example a wearable device or other device proximate to thedestination device. Regardless, as shown, the auxiliary device 600includes processing circuitry 610 and communication circuitry 620. Thecommunication circuitry 620 is configured to communication with one ormore other nodes, e.g., transmitter(s) and/or destination device(s).Where the auxiliary device 600 transmits using wireless technology, thecommunication circuitry 620 is configured to transmit and/or receive viaone or more antennas. The processing circuitry 610 is configured toperform processing described above, e.g., in FIG. 8, such as byexecuting instructions stored in memory 630. Note that this does notpreclude the processing circuitry 610 from being configured to performother processing. Nor does this preclude the auxiliary device 600 fromcomprising other processing circuitry (not shown) configured to performother processing.

Note that the transmitter, destination device, and/or auxiliary devicemay be, comprise, or be a part of radio equipment herein. Radioequipment is any type of equipment configured for radio communicationwith other radio equipment. The radio equipment may for instanceconstitute radio network equipment (e.g., a base station) or userequipment (UE). Radio network equipment is any equipment capable ofcommunicating with a user equipment over radio signals. Examples ofradio network equipment include, but are not limited to, base stations(BSs), radio base stations, Node Bs, multi-standard radio (MSR) radionodes such as MSR BSs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), gNodeBs (gNBs), femtobase stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, macro basestations, one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base stationsuch as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (which mayor may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integratedradio), network controllers, radio network controllers (RNCs), basestation controllers (BSCs), relay nodes, relay donor node controllingrelays, base transceiver stations (BTSs), access points (APs), radioaccess points, transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote RadioUnits (RRUs), Remote Radio Heads (RRHs), nodes in a distributed antennasystem (DAS), etc.

A user equipment is any type device capable of communicating with radionetwork equipment over radio signals. A user equipment may thereforerefer to a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, a machine-typecommunications (MTC) device, a NB-IoT device, etc. However, it should benoted that the UE does not necessarily have a “user” in the sense of anindividual person owning and/or operating the device. A user equipmentmay also be referred to as a radio device, a radio communication device,a wireless terminal, or simply a terminal—unless the context indicatesotherwise, the use of any of these terms is intended to includedevice-to-device UEs or devices, machine-type devices or devices capableof machine-to-machine communication, sensors equipped with a wirelessdevice, wireless-enabled table computers, mobile terminals, smartphones, laptop-embedded equipped (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME),USB dongles, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), etc. In thediscussion herein, the terms machine-to-machine (M2M) device,machine-type communication (MTC) device, wireless sensor, and sensor mayalso be used. It should be understood that these devices may be UEs, butare generally configured to transmit and/or receive data without directhuman interaction.

In an IOT scenario, a user equipment as described herein may be, or maybe comprised in, a machine or device that performs monitoring ormeasurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring measurementsto another device or a network. Particular examples of such machines arepower meters, industrial machinery, or home or personal appliances, e.g.refrigerators, televisions, personal wearables such as watches etc. Inother scenarios, a user equipment as described herein may be comprisedin a vehicle and may perform monitoring and/or reporting of thevehicle's operational status or other functions associated with thevehicle.

It would be unduly repetitious and obfuscating to describe and/orillustrate every combination and/or sub-combination of the plurality ofembodiments that are described herein. Accordingly, the presentspecification, including the drawings and Claims thereof shall beconstrued to constitute a complete written description of allcombinations and/or sub-combinations of the embodiments describedherein, and of the manner and process of making and using them, andshall support Claims to any such combination and/or sub-combination.

Specific exemplary embodiments of the inventive concepts have beendescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. These inventiveconcepts may, however, be embodied in many different forms and shouldnot be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather,these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thoroughand complete, and will fully convey the scope of the inventive conceptsto those skilled in the art. It will be understood that any two or moreembodiments of the present inventive concepts as presented herein may becombined in whole or in part to form one or more additional embodiments.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being“connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directlyconnected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may bepresent. Furthermore, “connected” or “coupled” as used herein includeswirelessly connected or coupled.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the inventiveconcepts. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly statedotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes,”“comprises,” “including” and/or “comprising,” when used in thisspecification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps,operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which these inventive concepts belong.It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined incommonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaningthat is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant artand the present disclosure, and will not be interpreted in an idealizedor overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

It will be understood that although terms such as first, second, desiredand interference are used herein to describe various elements and/orsignals, these elements/signals should not be limited by these terms.These terms are only used to distinguish one element/signal from anotherelement/signal. Thus, a first element/signal could be termed a secondelement/signal, and a second element/signal may be termed a firstelement/signal without departing from the teachings of the presentinventive concepts. Similarly, a desired element/signal could be termedan interference element/signal, and an interference element/signal maybe termed a desired element/signal without departing from the teachingsof the present inventive concepts, as will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art.

As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations ofone or more of the associated listed items. The symbol “/” is also usedas a shorthand notation for “and/or”. Further, as used herein the term“DFT/FFT” refers to Discrete Fourier Transform and/or Fast FourierTransform and may include any other Fourier transform. The termIDFT/IFFT as used herein refers to Inverse Discrete Fourier Transformand/or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform and may include any other inverseFourier transform.

As used herein, the term “transmitter” and/or “receiver” include(s)transmitters/receivers of cellular and/or satellite terminals with orwithout a multi-line display; smartphones and/or Personal CommunicationsSystem (PCS) terminals that may include data processing, facsimileand/or data communications capabilities; Personal Digital Assistants(PDA) that can include a radio frequency transceiver and/or a pager,Internet/Intranet access, Web browser, organizer, calendar and/or aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) receiver; and/or conventional laptopand/or palmtop computers or other appliances, which include a radiofrequency transmitter and/or receiver. As used herein, the term“transmitter” and/or “receiver” also include(s) any other radiatorand/or receptor of electromagnetic energy that may have time-varyingand/or fixed geographic coordinates and/or may be portable,transportable, installed in a vehicle (aeronautical, maritime, orland-based) and/or situated/configured to operate locally and/or in adistributed fashion on earth, in vehicles (land-mobile, maritime and/oraeronautical) and/or in space. A transmitter and/or receiver also may bereferred to herein as a “BTS”, “base station,” “access point,” “device,”“mobile device,” “wireless device,” “terminal,” “smartphone” and/or as a“radioterminal”.

The present inventive concepts have been described with reference tofigure(s), block diagram(s) and/or flowchart illustration(s) of methods,apparatus (systems) and/or computer program products according toembodiments of the inventive concepts. It is understood that a block ofthe block diagram(s) and/or flowchart illustration(s), and combinationsof blocks in the block diagram(s) and/or flowchart illustration(s), canbe implemented by computer program instructions. These computer programinstructions may be provided to a processor of a general-purposecomputer, special purpose computer, and/or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor of the computer and/or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, create means (functionality)and/or structure for implementing the functions/acts specified in thefigure(s), block diagram(s) and/or flowchart block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the figure(s), block diagram(s)and/or flowchart block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe figure(s), block diagram(s) and/or flowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, the present inventive concepts may be embodied in hardwareand/or in software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code,etc.). Furthermore, the present inventive concepts may take the form ofa computer program product on a computer-usable or computer-readablestorage medium having computer-usable or computer-readable program codeembodied in the medium for use by or in connection with an instructionexecution system. In the context of this document, a computer-usable orcomputer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, thefunctions/acts noted in the blocks of the block diagram(s)/flowchart(s)and/or figure(s) may occur out of the order noted in the blockdiagram(s)/flowchart(s) and/or figure(s). For example, two blocks shownin succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or theblocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending uponthe functionality/acts involved. Moreover, the functionality of a givenblock of the flowchart(s)/block diagram(s) and/or figure(s) may beseparated into multiple blocks and/or the functionality of two or moreblocks of the flowchart(s)/block diagram(s) and/or figure(s) may be atleast partially integrated with one another.

According to various embodiments of inventive concepts disclosed herein,a method of conveying by a transmitter to a destination device a numberof bits of information that are in excess of a number of bits ofinformation that are transmitted by the transmitter is disclosed; themethod comprising:

responsive to a state of L bits of information that the transmitterdesires to convey to the destination device, selecting by saidtransmitter an auxiliary device of at least one auxiliary device; saidauxiliary device comprising an index that is associated with said stateof said L bits of information; and

transmitting by the transmitter a signal comprising N bits ofinformation to the selected auxiliary device while refraining by thetransmitter from transmitting to the selected auxiliary device any ofsaid L bits of information;

wherein said signal comprising said N bits of information is received atthe auxiliary device;

wherein a signal is transmitted by said auxiliary device responsive tothe auxiliary device having received said signal comprising said N bitsof information;

wherein the destination device determines that it has received said Nbits of information and said L bits of information responsive to havingreceived the signal that has been transmitted by said auxiliary device;and

wherein L≥1 and N≥0.

According to some embodiments, the method further comprises:

refraining by the transmitter from conveying any of the N bits ofinformation and any of the L bits of information directly to thedestination device.

According to other embodiments, said at least one auxiliary devicecomprises M auxiliary devices, wherein M≥2^(L)≥2; and wherein the indexof the auxiliary device that is selected by the transmitter, isassociated with the state of said L bits that the transmitter desires totransmit to the destination device; wherein said state of said L bits isone of 2^(L) different states, and wherein said at least one auxiliarydevice comprises at least 2^(L) different auxiliary devices each one ofwhich is associated with a different one of at least 2^(L) differentindices that respectively correspond to said 2^(L) different states ofsaid L bits.

According to further embodiments, one or more auxiliary devices of saidat least one auxiliary device are proximate to the destination device,wherein said proximate to the destination device comprises being on aperson who is using the destination device, in some embodiments.

According to yet other embodiments, said signal that is transmitted bysaid auxiliary device comprises said N bits of information received bythe auxiliary device from the transmitter; wherein said selecting bysaid transmitter an auxiliary device of said at least one auxiliarydevice comprises associating by the transmitter said state of said Lbits that the transmitter desires to transmit to the destination devicewith said index of said auxiliary device; and wherein said index of saidauxiliary device is predetermined to be associated with said state ofsaid L bits.

According to additional embodiments, it is predetermined that, uponreception at the auxiliary device of said signal comprising said N bitsof information that has been transmitted by the transmitter, theauxiliary device is to augment said N bits by appending thereto said Lbits and/or responsive to the destination device receiving said signalthat has been transmitted by said auxiliary device, comprising said Nbits, said destination device is to augment said N bits by appendingthereto said L bits.

According to yet further embodiments, said destination device and/orsaid auxiliary device augment/augments said N bits by appending said Nbits by at least some of said L bits at an end of said N bits, beyondthe end of said N bits and/or prior to the end of said N bits.

According to some embodiments, said destination device and/or saidauxiliary device augment/augments said N bits by appending said N bitsby at least some of said L bits at a beginning of said N bits, prior tothe beginning of said N bits and/or beyond the beginning of said N bits.

According to other embodiments, said destination device and/or saidauxiliary device augment/augments said N bits by appending said N bitsby at least some of said L bits at a location beyond a beginning butbefore an end of said N bits.

According to further embodiments, said destination device and/or saidauxiliary device augment/augments said N bits by appending said N bitsby at least some of said L bits and distributing said at least some ofsaid L bits over a plurality of different non-contiguous locations ofsaid N bits.

Yet according to additional embodiments, said N bits and said L bits areto appear at the destination device in a predetermined order.

According to some embodiments, said predetermined order comprisesaugmenting by the auxiliary device and/or the destination device said Nbits by appending said N bits by at least some of said L bits at an endof said N bits, beyond the end of said N bits and/or before the end ofsaid N bits.

According to other embodiments, said predetermined order comprisesaugmenting by the auxiliary device and/or the destination device said Nbits by appending said N bits by at least some of said L bits at abeginning of said N bits, beyond the beginning of said N bits and/orprior to the beginning of said N bits.

In accordance with yet additional embodiments, said predetermined ordercomprises augmenting by the auxiliary device and/or the destinationdevice said N bits by appending said N bits by at least some of said Lbits at a location beyond a beginning but before an end of said N bits.

In accordance with further embodiments, said predetermined ordercomprises augmenting by the auxiliary device and/or the destinationdevice said N bits by appending said N bits by at least some of said Lbits and distributing said at least some of said L bits over a pluralityof different non-contiguous locations of said N bits.

In accordance with yet further embodiments, said transmitting by thetransmitter comprises transmitting by the transmitter using frequenciesof a cellular band of frequencies; and wherein the signal that istransmitted by said auxiliary device comprises at least one frequencythat is mutually exclusive to the frequencies of said cellular band offrequencies.

According to some embodiments, said transmitting by the transmittercomprises transmitting by the transmitter using frequencies of acellular band of frequencies; and wherein the signal that is transmittedby said auxiliary device comprises frequencies of said cellular band offrequencies.

According to other embodiments, said transmitting by the transmittercomprises transmitting by the transmitter using a first protocol; andwherein the signal that is transmitted by said auxiliary device is basedupon a second protocol that differs from the first protocol.

According to yet additional embodiments, said transmitting by thetransmitter comprises transmitting by the transmitter using a firstprotocol; and wherein the signal that is transmitted by said auxiliarydevice is based upon the first protocol or a variant thereof.

And, in accordance with yet additional embodiments, the method furthercomprising: providing privacy, security and/or encryption by conveyingby the transmitter, via said auxiliary device, to the destination devicesaid N+L bits of information via a transmission by the transmitter tosaid auxiliary device that is limited to said N bits of information.

According to some embodiments, a first auxiliary device of the pluralityof auxiliary devices is connected to said transmitter, receivesinformation from said transmitter and uses said received informationfrom said transmitter to convey information to said destination device;and wherein a second auxiliary device of the plurality of auxiliarydevices is also connected to said transmitter, receives information fromsaid transmitter and uses said received information from saidtransmitter to also convey information to said destination device.

According to other embodiments, said first auxiliary device and saidsecond auxiliary device convey information to the destination deviceover respective first and second time intervals that overlap with oneanother at least partially.

According to additional embodiments, said first auxiliary device andsaid second auxiliary device convey information to the destinationdevice over respective first and second time intervals that do notoverlap with one another.

According to further embodiments, each one of said first and secondauxiliary devices is attached, installed and/or positioned in/on abuilding.

According to yet further embodiments, each one of said first and secondauxiliary devices is attached and/or situated on a person.

In accordance with some embodiments, the first and second auxiliarydevices convey information to the destination device using respectivefirst and second frequency sets that are at least partially mutuallyexclusive with one another.

In accordance with other embodiments, the first and second auxiliarydevices convey information to the destination device using respectivefirst and second frequency sets that are at least partially overlappingwith one another.

In accordance with additional embodiments, the first and secondauxiliary devices convey information to the destination device usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallymutually exclusive with one another.

In accordance with yet additional embodiments, the first and secondauxiliary devices convey information to the destination device usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallyoverlapping with one another.

In accordance with further embodiments, a communications systemcomprising a transmitter is provided;

wherein the transmitter comprises a processor that is configured tocontrol the transmitter to perform operations comprising:

responsive to a state of L bits of information that the transmitterdesires to transmit to a destination device, selecting by saidtransmitter an auxiliary device whose index is associated with saidstate of said L bits of information; and

transmitting by the transmitter to the selected auxiliary device asignal comprising N bits of information, other than the L bits ofinformation, while refraining by the transmitter from transmitting tothe selected auxiliary device any of said L bits of information;

wherein said signal comprising said N bits of information is received atthe auxiliary device;

wherein the auxiliary device transmits a signal comprising said N bitsof information responsive to having received the signal from saidtransmitter comprising said N bits of information;

wherein responsive to having received at the destination device thesignal transmitted by the auxiliary device comprising the N bits ofinformation, the destination device determines that it has received Nbits of information and L bits of information responsive to havingreceived the signal that has been transmitted by said auxiliary device;and

wherein L≥1 and N≥0.

In accordance with yet further embodiments, said operations furthercomprise:

refraining by the transmitter from conveying any of the N bits ofinformation and any of the L bits of information directly to thedestination device.

According to some embodiments, said auxiliary device comprises aplurality of auxiliary devices; wherein the plurality of auxiliarydevices comprises M auxiliary devices, wherein M≥2^(L)≥2; and whereinthe index of the auxiliary device that is selected by the transmitter isassociated with the state of said L bits that the transmitter desires totransmit to the destination device; wherein said state of said L bits isone of 2^(L) different states, and wherein said plurality of auxiliarydevices comprises at least 2^(L) different auxiliary devices each one ofwhich is associated with a different one of at least 2^(L) differentindices that respectively correspond to said 2^(L) different states ofsaid L bits.

According to further embodiments, at least one auxiliary device of theplurality of auxiliary devices is proximate to the destination device;and according to yet further embodiments, said proximate to thedestination device comprises being on a person who is using thedestination device.

According to additional embodiments, said signal that is transmitted bysaid auxiliary device comprises information received at the auxiliarydevice from the transmitter; wherein said selecting by said transmitteran auxiliary device comprises associating by the transmitter said stateof said L bits that the transmitter desires to transmit to thedestination device with said index of said auxiliary device; and whereinsaid index of said auxiliary device is predetermined to be associatedwith said state of said L bits; and according to yet additionalembodiments, it is predetermined that, responsive to said index of saidselected auxiliary device and responsive to said transmitting by thetransmitter to the selected auxiliary device, the selected auxiliarydevice and/or the destination device augment/augments said N bits bysaid L bits.

In accordance with yet other embodiments, said selected auxiliary deviceand/or said destination device augment/augments said N bits by appendingsaid N bits by at least some of said L bits at an end of said N bitsand/or at a distance from the end of said N bits.

In accordance with some embodiments, said selected auxiliary deviceand/or said destination device augment/augments said N bits by appendingsaid N bits by at least some of said L bits at a beginning of said Nbits and/or at a distance from the beginning of said N bits.

In accordance with further embodiments, said selected auxiliary deviceand/or said destination device augment/augments said N bits by appendingsaid N bits by at least some of said L bits at a location beyond abeginning but before an end of said N bits.

In accordance with yet additional embodiments, said selected auxiliarydevice and/or said destination device augment/augments said N bits byappending said N bits by at least some of said L bits and distributingsaid at least some of said L bits over a plurality of differentnon-contiguous locations of said N bits.

According to some embodiments, it is predetermined that, responsive tosaid transmitting by the transmitter to the selected auxiliary device,said selected auxiliary device and/or said destination device is/are toaugment said N bits by said L bits; and wherein said selected auxiliarydevice and/or said destination device augment/augments said N bits byappending thereto said L bits at an end of said N bits.

According to other embodiments, said selected auxiliary device and/orsaid destination device augment/augments said N bits by appendingthereto said L bits at a beginning of said N bits.

According to further embodiments, said selected auxiliary device and/orsaid destination device augment/augments said N bits by appendingthereto said L bits at a location beyond a beginning but before an endof said N bits.

According to yet additional embodiments, said selected auxiliary deviceand/or said destination device augment/augments said N bits by appendingthereto said L bits and distributing said L bits over a plurality ofdifferent non-contiguous locations of said N bits.

According to some other embodiments, said transmitting by thetransmitter comprises transmitting by the transmitter using frequenciesof a cellular band of frequencies; and wherein the signal transmitted bythe auxiliary device comprises at least one frequency that is mutuallyexclusive to the frequencies of said cellular band of frequencies.

According to yet further embodiments, said transmitting by thetransmitter comprises transmitting by the transmitter using frequenciesof a cellular band of frequencies; and wherein said signal that istransmitted by said auxiliary device comprises frequencies of saidcellular band of frequencies.

According to various other embodiments, said transmitting by thetransmitter comprises transmitting by the transmitter using a firstprotocol; and wherein said signal that is transmitted by said auxiliarydevice is based upon a second protocol that differs from the firstprotocol.

According to at least one other embodiment, said transmitting by thetransmitter comprises transmitting by the transmitter using a firstprotocol; and wherein said signal that is transmitted by said auxiliarydevice is based upon the first protocol.

According to at least one further embodiment, said transmitter providesprivacy, security and/or encryption by conveying, via said auxiliarydevice, to the destination device said N bits of information and said Lbits of information via a transmission by the transmitter to saidauxiliary device that is limited to only said N bits of information.

According to some embodiments, said auxiliary device comprises a firstauxiliary device and a second auxiliary device; wherein the firstauxiliary device is connected to said transmitter, receives informationfrom said transmitter and uses said received information from saidtransmitter to convey information to said destination device; andwherein the second auxiliary device is also connected to saidtransmitter, receives information from said transmitter and uses saidreceived information from said transmitter to also convey information tosaid destination device.

According to some other embodiments, said first auxiliary device andsaid second auxiliary device convey information to the destinationdevice over respective first and second time intervals that overlap withone another at least partially.

According to yet further embodiments, said first auxiliary device andsaid second auxiliary device convey information to the destinationdevice over respective first and second time intervals that do notoverlap with one another.

According to additional embodiments, at least one of said first andsecond auxiliary devices is attached to, installed and/or positionedin/on a building; and according to yet other embodiments, at least oneof said first and second auxiliary devices is attached to and/orsituated/positioned on a person.

In accordance with some embodiments, the first and second auxiliarydevices convey information to the destination device using respectivefirst and second frequency sets that are at least partially mutuallyexclusive with one another.

In accordance with other embodiments, the first and second auxiliarydevices convey information to the destination device using respectivefirst and second frequency sets that are at least partially overlappingwith one another.

In accordance with further embodiments, the first and second auxiliarydevices convey information to the destination device using respectivefirst and second frequency sets that are at least partially mutuallyexclusive with one another.

In accordance with yet additional embodiments, the first and secondauxiliary devices convey information to the destination device usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallyoverlapping with one another.

According to further embodiments, said first auxiliary device and saidsecond auxiliary device convey information to the destination deviceusing respective first and second protocols that differ with oneanother.

According to some embodiments, said first auxiliary device conveysinformation to the destination device using a protocol and wherein saidsecond auxiliary device conveys information to the destination devicealso using said protocol.

Yet, according to further embodiments, said communications systemcomprising the transmitter further comprises a receiver.

According to some embodiments, said destination device providesinformation to said receiver and/or transmitter; and according to someembodiments, the destination device provides said information to saidreceiver and/or transmitter via the auxiliary device.

According to some embodiments, said information comprises adetermination by the destination device of a plurality of auxiliarydevices that the destination device is capable of communicating with.

According to some embodiments, the auxiliary device is integrated withthe destination device; and, according to other embodiments, saidtransmitting by the transmitter comprises wirelessly and/ornon-wirelessly transmitting by the transmitter.

Further, according to some embodiments, said transmitting by thetransmitter comprises a signal at a first power level and the auxiliarydevice transmits a signal to the destination device, responsive tohaving received the signal transmitted by the transmitter, at a secondpower level that is less than the first power level.

In accordance with some embodiments, said system comprising thetransmitter further comprises the auxiliary device and/or thedestination device.

Other embodiments present a method of receiving at a destination devicea number of information bits that a transmitter is to convey to thedestination device; wherein said number of information bits that thetransmitter desires to convey to the destination device is greater thana number of information bits that the transmitter transmits; the methodcomprising:

identifying at least one auxiliary device that is proximate to and/orcapable of communicating with the destination device;

informing the transmitter of the identified at least one auxiliarydevice that is proximate to and/or capable of communicating with thedestination device;

receiving at the destination device a signal from an auxiliary device ofsaid at least one auxiliary device; wherein said signal that is receivedat the destination device from the auxiliary device comprises N bits ofinformation and is transmitted by the auxiliary device responsive to theauxiliary device having received a signal from the transmitter conveyingthereto said N bits of information; and

augmenting by the destination device and/or by the auxiliary device saidN bits of information by appending thereto L bits of information whosestate corresponds to, and/or is associated with, an index of theauxiliary device that relays to the destination device the signalcomprising said N bits of information;

wherein the transmitter desires to convey said N bits of information tothe destination device and further desires to convey said L bits ofinformation to the destination device in addition to said N bits ofinformation;

wherein responsive to said L bits of information that the transmitterdesires to convey to the destination device, the transmitter selects theauxiliary device of said at least one auxiliary device such that anindex thereof corresponds to, and/or is associated with, the state ofsaid L bits of information;

wherein the transmitter transmits a signal comprising said N bits ofinformation to the selected auxiliary device while refraining fromtransmitting to the selected auxiliary device any of said L bits ofinformation; and

wherein L≥1 and N≥0.

According to some embodiments, the destination device receives said Nbits of information and said L bits of information by communicating withthe auxiliary device and does not receive any of said N bits ofinformation and any of said L bits of information directly from thetransmitter.

In accordance with some embodiments, said at least one auxiliary devicecomprises M auxiliary devices, wherein M≥2^(L)≥2; and wherein the indexof the auxiliary device that is selected by the transmitter, isassociated with the state of said L bits that the transmitter desires toconvey to the destination device; wherein said state of said L bits isone of 2^(L) different states, and wherein said at least one auxiliarydevice comprises at least 2^(L) different auxiliary devices each one ofwhich is associated with a different one of at least 2^(L) differentindices that respectively correspond to said 2^(L) different states ofsaid L bits.

According to some embodiments, one or more auxiliary devices of said atleast one auxiliary device are proximate to the destination device; and,according to some embodiments, said proximate to the destination devicecomprises being on a person who is using the destination device.

According to further embodiments, said signal that is transmitted bysaid auxiliary device comprises information received at the auxiliarydevice from the transmitter; wherein said transmitter selects anauxiliary device of said at least one auxiliary device by associatingsaid state of said L bits that the transmitter desires to transmit tothe destination device with said index of said auxiliary device that thetransmitter selects; and wherein said index of said auxiliary devicethat the transmitter selects is predetermined to be associated with saidstate of said L bits.

According to additional embodiments, said augmenting by the destinationdevice and/or by the auxiliary device said N bits of information byappending thereto L bits of information comprises:

forming by the destination device and/or by the auxiliary device asequence of bits comprising N+L bits that the transmitter intended toconvey to the destination device.

According to yet other embodiments, said auxiliary device and/or saiddestination device augment/augments said N bits by appending thereto atleast some of said L bits at an end of said N bits and/or by appendingthereto at least some of said L bits at a distance from the end of saidN bits.

In accordance with some embodiments, said auxiliary device and/or saiddestination device augment/augments said N bits by appending thereto atleast some of said L bits at a beginning of said N bits and/or byappending thereto at least some of said L bits at a distance from thebeginning of said N bits.

In accordance with yet additional embodiments, said auxiliary deviceand/or said destination device augment/augments said N bits by appendingthereto at least some of said L bits at a location thereof beyond abeginning but before an end of said N bits and/or by appending theretoat least some of said L bits at a location thereof prior to thebeginning and/or following the end of said N bits.

In accordance with further embodiments, said auxiliary device and/orsaid destination device augment/augments said N bits by appendingthereto at least some of said L bits over a plurality of differentnon-contiguous locations of said N bits.

According to some embodiments, said augmenting by the destination deviceand/or by the auxiliary device said N bits of information by appendingthereto L bits of information comprises:

forming by the destination device and/or by the auxiliary device asequence of bits comprising N+L bits that the transmitter intended toconvey to the destination device.

According to other embodiments, said destination device and/or saidauxiliary device augment/augments said N bits by appending thereto atleast some of said L bits at an end of said N bits and/or by appendingthereto at least some of said L bits at a distance from the end of saidN bits; wherein said distance from the end of said N bits comprises adistance following said end and/or a distance prior to said end.

According to additional embodiments, said destination device and/or saidauxiliary device augment/augments said N bits by appending thereto atleast some of said L bits at a beginning of said N bits and/or byappending thereto at least some of said L bits at a distance from thebeginning of said N bits; wherein said distance from the beginning ofsaid N bits comprises a distance following said beginning and/or adistance prior to said beginning.

According to further embodiments, said destination device and/or saidauxiliary device augment/augments said N bits by appending thereto atleast some of said L bits at a location thereof beyond a beginning butbefore an end of said N bits and/or by appending thereto at least someof said L bits at a location thereof prior to the beginning and/orfollowing the end of said N bits.

According to yet additional embodiments, said destination device and/orsaid auxiliary device augment/augments said N bits by appending theretoat least some of said L bits over a plurality of differentnon-contiguous locations of said N bits.

According to some embodiments, the signal that is received at thedestination device from the auxiliary device comprises at least onefrequency that is mutually exclusive to frequencies used for cellularcommunications.

In accordance with some embodiments, the signal that is received at thedestination device from the auxiliary device comprises frequencies thatare used for cellular communications.

In accordance with further embodiments, the signal that is received atthe destination device from the auxiliary device is based upon aprotocol that differs from a protocol used by said transmitter totransmit said signal comprising said N bits of information to theselected auxiliary device.

In accordance with yet additional embodiments, the signal that isreceived at the destination device from the auxiliary device is basedupon a protocol that is used by said transmitter to transmit said signalcomprising said N bits of information to the selected auxiliary device.

In accordance with some embodiments, the method further comprises:

providing privacy, security and/or encryption by conveying to thedestination device said N bits of information and said L bits ofinformation via a transmission that is limited to only said N bits ofinformation;

wherein L≥1 and N≥0.

According to some embodiments, said at least one auxiliary devicecomprises a first auxiliary device and a second auxiliary device;wherein the destination device is connected to, and communicates with,the first auxiliary device and receives information from said firstauxiliary device; and wherein the destination device is also connectedto, and communicates with, the second auxiliary device and receivesinformation from said second auxiliary device.

According to additional embodiments, said destination device receivesinformation from said first auxiliary device and from said secondauxiliary device over respective first and second time intervals thatoverlap with one another at least partially.

According to further embodiments, said destination device receivesinformation from said first auxiliary device and from said secondauxiliary device over respective first and second time intervals that donot overlap with one another.

According to yet additional embodiments, at least one of said first andsecond auxiliary devices is attached to, installed and/or positionedin/on, a building; and, in accordance with some embodiments, at leastone of said first and second auxiliary devices is attached to, and/or issituated on, a person.

According to some embodiments, said destination device receivesinformation from said first and second auxiliary devices usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallymutually exclusive with one another.

According to other embodiments, said destination device receivesinformation from said first and second auxiliary devices usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallyoverlapping with one another.

According to further embodiments, said destination device receivesinformation from said first and second auxiliary devices usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallymutually exclusive with one another.

According to additional embodiments, said destination device receivesinformation from said first and second auxiliary devices usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallyoverlapping with one another.

According to yet other embodiments, said identifying and said informingis performed by the destination device, by said transmitter, by a basestation that is associated with said transmitter and/or by one or moreauxiliary devices of said at least one auxiliary device.

According to some embodiments, one or more auxiliary devices of said atleast one auxiliary device is integrated with the destination device.

According to yet other embodiments, the destination device receivesinformation from at least one auxiliary device over first and secondtime intervals that overlap with one another at least partially,receives information from at least one auxiliary device over third andfourth time intervals that do not overlap with one another, receivesinformation from at least one auxiliary device via first and secondprotocols that differ from one another or are the same with one another,receives information from at least one auxiliary device via first andsecond frequency sets whose frequencies are at least partially mutuallyexclusive with one another and/or receives information via third andfourth frequency sets comprising at least one frequency that is commonwith one another.

According to further embodiments, the destination device receivesinformation indirectly from the transmitter via said auxiliary deviceand also receives information directly from the transmitter.

According to yet additional embodiments, the destination device receivesinformation directly from the transmitter via frequencies of a cellularfrequency band and receives information indirectly from the transmittervia said auxiliary device via frequencies that are at least partiallymutually exclusive to frequencies of said cellular frequency band.

According to some other embodiments, the destination device receivesinformation directly from the transmitter and receives informationindirectly from the transmitter concurrently with one another.

According to some embodiments, the destination device receivesinformation directly from the transmitter via frequencies of a cellularfrequency band and receives information indirectly from the transmittervia said auxiliary device via frequencies of said cellular frequencyband.

In accordance with further embodiments, the destination device receivesinformation directly from the transmitter and further receivesinformation indirectly from the transmitter, via said auxiliary device,concurrently with receiving information directly from the transmitter.

In accordance with additional embodiments, the destination devicereceives first information and receives second information, concurrentlywith one another, from respective first and second auxiliary devices ofsaid at least one auxiliary device.

In accordance with yet additional embodiments, the destination devicecomprises a smartphone.

According to some embodiments, a communications system is providedcomprising a destination device;

wherein the destination device comprises a processor that is configuredto control the destination device to perform operations comprising:

identifying at least one auxiliary device that is proximate to and/or iscapable of communicating with the destination device;

informing a transmitter of the identified at least one auxiliary devicethat is proximate to and/or is capable of communicating with thedestination device;

receiving at the destination device a signal from an auxiliary device ofsaid at least one auxiliary device; wherein said signal that is receivedat the destination device from the auxiliary device comprises N bits ofinformation and is transmitted by the auxiliary device responsive to theauxiliary device having received a signal from the transmitter conveyingthereto said N bits of information; and

augmenting by the destination device and/or by the auxiliary device saidN bits of information by appending thereto L bits of information whosestate corresponds to, and/or is associated with, an index of theauxiliary device that has conveyed said N bits of information to thedestination device;

wherein the transmitter desires to convey said N bits of information tothe destination device and further desires to convey said L bits ofinformation, in addition to said N bits of information, to thedestination device;

wherein responsive to the state of said L bits of information that thetransmitter desires to convey to the destination device, the transmitterselects an auxiliary device of the at least one auxiliary device suchthat an index thereof corresponds to, and/or is associated with, saidstate of said L bits of information;

wherein the transmitter transmits a signal comprising said N bits ofinformation to the selected auxiliary device while refraining fromtransmitting to the selected auxiliary device any of said L bits ofinformation; and

wherein L≥1 and N≥0.

According to further embodiments, the destination device receives N bitsof information and L bits of information by communicating with theauxiliary device and does not receive any of said N bits of informationand L bits of information directly from the transmitter.

According to additional embodiments, said at least one auxiliary devicecomprises M auxiliary devices, wherein M≥2^(L)≥2; and wherein the indexof the auxiliary device that is selected by the transmitter, isassociated with the state of said L bits that the transmitter desires toconvey to the destination device; wherein said state of said L bits isone of 2^(L) different states, and wherein said at least one auxiliarydevice comprises at least 2^(L) different auxiliary devices each one ofwhich is associated with a different one of at least 2^(L) differentindices that respectively correspond to said 2^(L) different states ofsaid L bits.

According to yet other embodiments, one or more auxiliary devices ofsaid at least one auxiliary device are proximate to the destinationdevice; and, according with some embodiments, said proximate to thedestination device comprises being on a person who is using thedestination device.

In accordance with some embodiments, said signal that is received at thedestination device from the auxiliary device comprises the N bits ofinformation that are received by the auxiliary device from thetransmitter; wherein the transmitter selects an auxiliary device of saidat least one auxiliary device based on an association of said state ofsaid L bits with said index of said auxiliary device; and wherein saidindex of said auxiliary device is predetermined to be associated withsaid state of said L bits.

In accordance with other embodiments, said augmenting by the destinationdevice and/or by the auxiliary device said N bits of information byappending thereto L bits of information comprises:

forming by the destination device and/or by the auxiliary device asequence of bits comprising N+L bits that the transmitter intended toconvey to the destination device.

In accordance with additional embodiments, said auxiliary device and/orsaid destination device augment/augments said N bits by appendingthereto at least some of said L bits at an end of said N bits and/or byappending thereto at least some of said L bits at a distance from theend of said N bits.

In accordance with further embodiments, said auxiliary device and/ordestination device augment/augments said N bits by appending thereto atleast some of L bits at a beginning of said N bits and/or by appendingthereto at least some of said L bits at a distance from the beginning ofsaid N bits.

In accordance with yet more embodiments, said auxiliary device and/orsaid destination device augment/augments said N bits by appendingthereto at least some of said L bits at a location thereof beyond abeginning but before an end of said N bits and/or by appending theretoat least some of said L bits at a location thereof prior to thebeginning and/or following the end of said N bits.

In accordance with yet additional embodiments, said auxiliary deviceand/or said destination device augment/augments said N bits by appendingthereto at least some of said L bits over a plurality of differentnon-contiguous locations of said N bits.

According to some embodiments, said augmenting by the destination deviceand/or by the auxiliary device said N bits of information by appendingthereto L bits of information comprises:

forming by the destination device and/or by the auxiliary device asequence of bits comprising N+L bits that the transmitter intended toconvey to the destination device.

According with further embodiments, said destination device and/or saidauxiliary device augment/augments said N bits by appending thereto atleast some of said L bits at an end of said N bits and/or by appendingthereto at least some of said L bits at a distance from the end of saidN bits; wherein said distance from the end of said N bits comprises adistance following said end and/or a distance prior to said end.

According to additional embodiments, said destination device and/or saidauxiliary device augment/augments said N bits by appending thereto atleast some of said L bits at a beginning of said N bits and/or byappending thereto at least some of said L bits at a distance from thebeginning of said N bits; wherein said distance from the beginning ofsaid N bits comprises a distance following said beginning and/or adistance prior to said beginning.

According to yet further embodiments, said destination device and/orsaid auxiliary device augment/augments said N bits by appending theretoat least some of said L bits at a location thereof beyond a beginningbut before an end of said N bits and/or by appending thereto at leastsome of said L bits at a location thereof prior to the beginning and/orfollowing the end of said N bits.

According to some embodiments, said destination device and/or saidauxiliary device augment/augments said N bits by appending thereto atleast some of said L bits over a plurality of different non-contiguouslocations of said N bits.

In accordance with some additional embodiments, the signal that isreceived at the destination device from the auxiliary device comprisesat least one frequency that is mutually exclusive to frequencies thatthe Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has allocated for use bycellular communications systems in the United States.

In accordance with further embodiments, the signal that is received atthe destination device from the auxiliary device comprises frequenciesthat the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has allocated for useby cellular communications systems in the United States.

In accordance with yet other embodiments, the signal that is received atthe destination device from the auxiliary device is based upon aprotocol that differs from a protocol used by said transmitter totransmit said signal comprising said N bits of information to theselected auxiliary device.

Yet, in accordance with more embodiments, the signal that is received atthe destination device from the auxiliary device is based upon aprotocol that is used by said transmitter to transmit said signalcomprising said N bits of information to the selected auxiliary device.

According to some embodiments, the destination device provides privacy,security and/or encryption by receiving said N bits of information andsaid L bits of information via a transmission by the transmitter that islimited to only said N bits of information;

wherein L≥1 and N≥0.

According to further embodiments, the destination device is connectedto, and communicates with, a first auxiliary device of said at least oneauxiliary device, and receives information from said first auxiliarydevice; and wherein the destination device is also connected to, andcommunicates with, a second auxiliary device of said at least oneauxiliary device and receives information from said second auxiliarydevice.

According to various other embodiments, said destination device receivesinformation from said first auxiliary device and from said secondauxiliary device over respective first and second time intervals thatoverlap with one another at least partially.

According to yet additional embodiments, said destination devicereceives information from said first auxiliary device and from saidsecond auxiliary device over respective first and second time intervalsthat do not overlap with one another.

Yet, according to further embodiments, at least one of said first andsecond auxiliary devices is attached to, installed and/or positionedin/on, a building; and, according to some embodiments, at least one ofsaid first and second auxiliary devices is attached to, and/or issituated on, a person.

According to even more embodiments, said destination device receivesinformation from said first and second auxiliary devices usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallymutually exclusive with one another.

In accordance with some embodiments, said destination device receivesinformation from said first and second auxiliary devices usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallyoverlapping with one another.

In accordance with additional embodiments, said destination devicereceives information from said first and second auxiliary devices usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallymutually exclusive with one another.

According to yet other embodiments, said destination device receivesinformation from said first and second auxiliary devices usingrespective first and second frequency sets that are at least partiallyoverlapping with one another.

According to some embodiments, said identifying and said informing isperformed by the destination device, by said transmitter, by a basestation that is associated with said transmitter and/or by one or moreauxiliary devices of said at least one auxiliary device; and, inaccordance with some embodiments, the destination device is integratedwith said auxiliary device of said at least one auxiliary device.

Accordance to other embodiments, the destination device receivesinformation from at least one auxiliary device over first and secondtime intervals that overlap with one another at least partially,receives information from at least one auxiliary device over third andfourth time intervals that do not overlap with one another, receivesinformation from at least one auxiliary device via first and secondprotocols that differ from one another or are the same with one another,receives information from at least one auxiliary device via first andsecond frequency sets whose frequencies are at least partially mutuallyexclusive with one another and/or receives information via third andfourth frequency sets comprising at least one frequency that is commonwith one another.

In accordance with further embodiments, the destination device receivesinformation indirectly from the transmitter via said auxiliary deviceand also receives information directly from the transmitter.

In accordance with yet additional embodiments, the destination devicereceives information directly from the transmitter via frequencies of acellular frequency band and receives information indirectly from thetransmitter via said auxiliary device via frequencies that are at leastpartially mutually exclusive to frequencies of said cellular frequencyband.

Yet, in accordance with more embodiments, the destination devicereceives information directly from the transmitter and receivesinformation indirectly from the transmitter concurrently with receivinginformation directly from the transmitter.

According to some embodiments, the destination device receivesinformation directly from the transmitter via frequencies of a cellularfrequency band and receives information indirectly from the transmittervia said auxiliary device via frequencies of said cellular frequencyband.

According to other embodiments, the destination device receivesinformation directly from the transmitter and receives informationindirectly from the transmitter concurrently with receiving informationdirectly from the transmitter.

According to additional embodiments, the destination device receivesfirst information and receives second information, concurrently with oneanother, from respective first and second auxiliary devices of said atleast one auxiliary device.

According to further embodiments, the destination device comprises asmartphone; and, according to yet other embodiments, the communicationssystem being provided comprises the auxiliary device; yet further,according to other embodiments, the auxiliary device comprises asmartphone.

According to some embodiments, said operations further comprise:

identifying at least one new auxiliary devise responsive to thedestination device having changed position, responsive to aninterference level, responsive to a quality-of-service concern and/orresponsive to one or more auxiliary devices of said at least oneauxiliary device having changed position; and wherein, according to someembodiments, said at least one new auxiliary devise comprises anauxiliary device that was not included in said at least one auxiliarydevice.

In accordance with some embodiments, said destination devicecommunicates with said first auxiliary device using a first protocol andcommunicates with said second auxiliary device using a second protocolthat differs from the first protocol.

In accordance with other embodiments, said destination devicecommunicates with said first auxiliary device using a protocol andfurther communicates with said second auxiliary device using theprotocol.

According to some embodiments, the destination device communicatesdirectly with the transmitter using a 4G-LTE protocol comprising anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM), Orthogonal FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (OFDMA) and/or Single Carrier FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) air interface and communicatesindirectly with the transmitter via the auxiliary device using aprotocol that differs from said 4G-LTE protocol and/or from saidOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM), Orthogonal FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (OFDMA) and/or Single Carrier FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) air interface.

According to other embodiments, the destination device communicatesdirectly with the transmitter using a 4G-LTE protocol comprising anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM), Orthogonal FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (OFDMA) and/or Single Carrier FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) air interface and communicatesindirectly with the transmitter via the auxiliary device using said4G-LTE protocol and/or said Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed(OFDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and/orSingle Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) airinterface.

According to additional embodiments, said operations further comprise:

establishing a direct wireless link between the destination device andthe transmitter and informing, via said direct wireless link, thetransmitter of said identified at least one auxiliary device and/orestablishing an indirect wireless link between the destination deviceand the transmitter, via at least one auxiliary device, and informingthe transmitter via said indirect link of said identified at least oneauxiliary device.

According to further embodiments, a power level used by the destinationdevice over said direct wireless link exceeds a power level used by thedestination device over said indirect wireless link.

According to some embodiments, a method is provided for conveying by atransmitter, to a destination device, N bits of information and, furtherto said N bits of information, conveying by the transmitter to thedestination device an additional L bits of information, while limitingthe transmitter to only transmit said N bits of information; the methodcomprising:

responsive to a state of said L bits of information, selectivelyreceiving at an auxiliary device whose index is associated with saidstate of said L bits of information, a signal that has been transmittedby the transmitter selectively for reception only by said auxiliarydevice; said signal that has been transmitted by the transmitterselectively for reception only by said auxiliary device comprising saidN bits of information that the transmitter desires to convey to thedestination device and being devoid of said L bits of information thatthe transmitter also desires to convey to the destination device; and

transmitting by the auxiliary device a signal comprising said N bits ofinformation responsive to having received at the auxiliary device saidsignal comprising said N bits of information and being devoid of said Lbits of information;

wherein the auxiliary device that selectively receives the signalcomprising said N bits of information is selected responsive to saidindex of said auxiliary device corresponding to, and being associatedwith, said state of said L bits of information that the transmitterdesires to convey to the destination device;

wherein the auxiliary device and/or the destination deviceappend/appends said N bits of information with at least some bits ofsaid L bits of information responsive to having received the signalcomprising said N bits of information and responsive to said index ofthe auxiliary device that is associated with said state of said L bitsof information; and

wherein L≥1 and N≥0.

In accordance with other embodiments, the auxiliary device determinesthat it has received from the transmitter said N bits of informationand, further, said L bits of information, in addition to the N bits ofinformation, even though the signal transmitted by the transmitter andreceived at the auxiliary device comprises said N bits of informationand is devoid of said L bits of information;

wherein the auxiliary device determines that it has received from thetransmitter said N bits of information and, in addition to the N bits ofinformation, said L bits of information, responsive to the auxiliarydevice having been selected to receive said signal that comprises said Nbits of information even though said signal comprising said N bits ofinformation is devoid of said L bits of information; and wherein saidtransmitting by the auxiliary device a signal comprising said N bits ofinformation comprises:

transmitting by the auxiliary device a signal comprising said N bits ofinformation and/or at least some bits of said L bits of information.

In accordance with further embodiments, said auxiliary device is anauxiliary device of a plurality of auxiliary devices comprising Mauxiliary devices, wherein M≥2^(L)≥2; and wherein the index of theauxiliary device that is involved in said selectively receiving isassociated with the state of said L bits that the transmitter desires toconvey to the destination device; wherein said state of said L bits isone of 2^(L) different states, and wherein said plurality of auxiliarydevices comprises at least 2^(L) different auxiliary devices each one ofwhich is associated with a different one of at least 2^(L) differentindices that respectively correspond to said 2^(L) different states ofsaid L bits.

In accordance with yet other embodiments, at least one of the pluralityof auxiliary devices is proximate to the destination device; and,according to additional embodiments, said proximate to the destinationdevice comprises being on a person who is using the destination device.

According to additional embodiments, said signal that is transmitted bysaid auxiliary device comprises information received at the auxiliarydevice from the transmitter; wherein said selectively receiving at anauxiliary device comprises associating by the transmitter said state ofsaid L bits that the transmitter desires to transmit to the destinationdevice with said index of said auxiliary device; and wherein said indexof said auxiliary device is predetermined to be associated with saidstate of said L bits.

According to further embodiments, it is predetermined that, responsiveto the auxiliary device having transmitted said signal comprising said Nbits of information and responsive to the destination device havingreceived said signal transmitted by the auxiliary device, saiddestination device is to augment said N bits conveyed by said signalreceived at the destination device by at least some bits of said L bits.

According to yet additional embodiments, the signal that is transmittedby the auxiliary device comprises at least one frequency that ismutually exclusive to frequencies used for cellular communications.

According to some embodiments, the signal that is transmitted by theauxiliary device comprises frequencies used for cellular communications.

According to further embodiments, the signal that is transmitted by theauxiliary device is based upon a protocol that differs from a protocolused by said transmitter to transmit said signal comprising said N bitsof information to the selected auxiliary device.

Yet further, according to some embodiments, the signal that istransmitted by the auxiliary device is based upon a protocol that isused by said transmitter to transmit said signal comprising said N bitsof information to the selected auxiliary device.

In accordance with additional embodiments, the method provided furthercomprises:

providing privacy, security and/or encryption by conveying to thedestination device N bits of information and L bits of information via areception at the auxiliary device that is limited to only N bits ofinformation;

wherein L≥1 and N≥0.

In accordance with further embodiments, said auxiliary device comprisesa first auxiliary device and a second auxiliary device; wherein thefirst auxiliary device is connected to, and communicates with, thedestination device and transmits/receives information to/from thedestination device; and wherein the second auxiliary device is alsoconnected to, and communicates with, the destination device andtransmits/receives information to/from the destination device.

In accordance with some embodiments, said first auxiliary device andsaid second auxiliary device transmit/receive information to/from thedestination device over respective first and second time intervals thatoverlap with one another at least partially.

In accordance with yet other embodiments, said first auxiliary deviceand said second auxiliary device transmit/receive information to/fromthe destination device over respective first and second time intervalsdo not overlap with one another.

In accordance with additional embodiments, at least one of said firstand second auxiliary devices is attached to, installed and/or positionedin/on, a building; and, in accordance with yet further embodiments, atleast one of said first and second auxiliary devices is attached to,and/or is situated on, a person.

According to further embodiments, said first and second auxiliarydevices transmit/receive information to/from the destination deviceusing respective first and second frequency sets that are at leastpartially mutually exclusive with one another.

According to some other embodiments, said first and second auxiliarydevices transmit/receive information to/from the destination deviceusing respective first and second frequency sets that are at leastpartially overlapping with one another.

According to additional embodiments, said first and second auxiliarydevices transmit/receive information to/from the destination deviceusing respective first and second frequency sets that are at leastpartially mutually exclusive with one another.

According to yet more embodiments, said first and second auxiliarydevices transmit/receive information to/from the destination deviceusing respective first and second frequency sets that are at leastpartially overlapping with one another.

According to yet further embodiments, the auxiliary device whose indexis associated with said state of said L bits of information is selectedby the destination device, by said transmitter, by a base station thatis associated with said transmitter and/or by one or more auxiliarydevices of a plurality of auxiliary devices.

In accordance with some embodiments, the auxiliary device is integratedwith the destination device.

Yet further, in accordance with additional embodiments, said auxiliarydevice comprises at least one auxiliary device; and the method providedfurther comprises:

transmitting/receiving information by the at least one auxiliary deviceto/from the destination device and/or the transmitter over first andsecond time intervals that overlap with one another at least partially;

transmitting/receiving information by the at least one auxiliary deviceto/from the destination device and/or the transmitter over third andfourth time intervals that do not overlap with one another;

transmitting/receiving information by the at least one auxiliary deviceto/from the destination device and/or the transmitter via first andsecond protocols that differ from one another or are the same with oneanother;

transmitting/receiving information by the at least one auxiliary deviceto/from the destination device and/or the transmitter via first andsecond frequency sets whose frequencies are at least partially mutuallyexclusive with one another; and/or

transmitting/receiving information by the at least one auxiliary deviceto/from the destination device and/or the transmitter via third andfourth frequency sets comprising at least one common frequency with oneanother.

According to some embodiments, the auxiliary device receives informationdirectly from the transmitter and also receives information directlyfrom the destination device.

According to other embodiments, the auxiliary device transmits/receivesinformation directly to/from the transmitter via frequencies of acellular frequency band and transmits/receives information directlyto/from the destination device via frequencies that are at leastpartially mutually exclusive with frequencies of said cellular frequencyband.

According to further embodiments, the auxiliary devicetransmits/receives information directly to/from the transmitter andtransmits/receives information directly to/from the destination deviceconcurrently with one another.

According to additional embodiments, the auxiliary devicetransmits/receives information directly to/from the transmitter viafrequencies of a cellular frequency band and transmits/receivesinformation directly to/from the destination device via frequencies ofsaid cellular frequency band.

According to yet other embodiments, said auxiliary device comprisesfirst and second auxiliary devices; and wherein said first and secondauxiliary devices transmit/receive concurrently with one another.

Further, according to additional embodiments, the auxiliary devicecomprises a smartphone.

According to some embodiments, a communications system is providedcomprising:

an auxiliary device that comprises a processor that is configured tocontrol the auxiliary device to perform operations comprising:

storing information received from a destination device and/or atransmitter regarding a value of an index associated with the auxiliarydevice;

receiving from the transmitter, a signal comprising N bits ofinformation that the transmitter desires to convey to the destinationdevice; said signal comprising said N bits of information having beentransmitted by said transmitter so as to be received by said auxiliarydevice only; wherein the auxiliary device receives from the transmittersaid signal comprising said N bits of information responsive to L bitsof information, other than said N bits of information, that thetransmitter also desires to convey to the destination device andresponsive to said value of said index associated with said auxiliarydevice; and

transmitting a signal comprising said N bits of information responsiveto having received the signal from the transmitter comprising said Nbits of information;

wherein the auxiliary device receives the signal comprising said N bitsof information responsive to said index of said auxiliary devicecorresponding to, and being associated with, said state of said L bitsof information that the transmitter also desires to convey to thedestination device in addition to said N bits of information;

wherein the auxiliary device and/or the destination deviceappend/appends said N bits of information with at least some bits ofsaid L bits of information responsive to having received said N bits ofinformation and/or responsive to said index of the auxiliary device; and

wherein L≥1 and N≥0.

In accordance with additional embodiments, the auxiliary devicedetermines that it has received N bits of information and L bits ofinformation, in addition to the N bits of information, from thetransmitter, even though the auxiliary device receives said signalcomprising said N bits of information and devoid of said L bits ofinformation;

wherein the auxiliary device determines that it has received N bits ofinformation and L bits of information, in addition to the N bits ofinformation, responsive to the auxiliary device having been selected bythe transmitter to receive said signal comprising said N bits ofinformation; and

wherein said transmitting a signal comprising said N bits of informationcomprises:

transmitting by the auxiliary device a signal comprising said N bits ofinformation and/or at least some bits of said L bits of information.

In accordance with yet other embodiments, said auxiliary device is anauxiliary device of a plurality of auxiliary devices comprising Mauxiliary devices, wherein M≥2^(L)≥2; and wherein the value of the indexthat is associated with the auxiliary device is also associated withsaid state of said L bits; wherein said state of said L bits is one of2^(L) different states, and wherein said plurality of auxiliary devicescomprises at least 2^(L) different auxiliary devices each one of whichis associated with a different one of at least 2^(L) different indicesthat respectively correspond to said 2^(L) different states of said Lbits.

According to yet further embodiments, at least one auxiliary device ofthe plurality of auxiliary devices is proximate to the destinationdevice; and, wherein, according to some embodiments, said proximate tothe destination device comprises being on a person who is using thedestination device.

According to additional embodiments, said transmitting a signalcomprising said N bits of information comprises information received atthe auxiliary device from the transmitter; wherein said receiving from atransmitter comprises associating by the transmitter said state of saidL bits with said value of said index of the auxiliary device; andwherein said value of said index of the auxiliary device ispredetermined to be associated with said state of said L bits.

Yet, according to more embodiments, it is predetermined that, responsiveto the auxiliary device having transmitted said signal comprising said Nbits of information and responsive to the destination device havingreceived said signal that has been transmitted by the auxiliary devicecomprising said N bits of information, said destination device is toaugment/append said N bits by/with at least some bits of said L bits.

Further to the above, according to other embodiments, said transmittinga signal comprises transmitting at least one frequency that is mutuallyexclusive to frequencies used for said receiving.

In accordance with various other embodiments, said transmitting a signalcomprises frequencies that are used for cellular communications.

In accordance with further embodiments, said transmitting a signalcomprises a protocol that differs from a protocol used in saidreceiving.

In accordance with yet additional embodiments, said transmitting asignal comprises a protocol and wherein said receiving comprises theprotocol.

According to further embodiments, the auxiliary device provides privacy,security and/or encryption by conveying to the destination device said Nbits of information and also said L bits of information via a receptionat the auxiliary device that is limited to only said N bits ofinformation;

wherein L≥1 and N≥0.

According to some embodiments, said auxiliary device comprises a firstand a second auxiliary device; wherein the first auxiliary device isconnected to, and communicates with, the destination device andtransmits/receives information to/from the destination device; andwherein the second auxiliary device is also connected to, andcommunicates with, the destination device and transmits/receivesinformation to/from the destination device.

According to yet other embodiments, said first auxiliary device and saidsecond auxiliary device transmit/receive information to/from thedestination device over respective first and second time intervals thatoverlap with one another at least partially.

According to additional embodiments, said first auxiliary device andsaid second auxiliary device transmit/receive information to/from thedestination device over respective first and second time intervals donot overlap with one another.

Yet according to further embodiments, at least one of said first andsecond auxiliary devices is attached to, installed and/or positionedin/on, a building; and, in accordance with some embodiments, at leastone of said first and second auxiliary devices is attached to, and/or issituated on, a person.

According to even more embodiments, said first and second auxiliarydevices transmit/receive information to/from the destination deviceusing respective first and second frequency sets that are at leastpartially mutually exclusive with one another.

Still according to additional embodiments, said first and secondauxiliary devices transmit/receive information to/from the destinationdevice using respective first and second frequency sets that are atleast partially overlapping with one another.

Further, in accordance with still more embodiments, said first andsecond auxiliary devices transmit/receive information to/from thedestination device using respective first and second frequency sets thatare at least partially mutually exclusive with one another.

According to further embodiments, said first and second auxiliarydevices transmit/receive information to/from the destination deviceusing respective first and second frequency sets that are at leastpartially overlapping with one another.

According to yet additional embodiments, the auxiliary device whoseindex value is associated with said state of said L bits of informationis selected by the destination device, by said transmitter, by a basestation that is associated with said transmitter and/or by one or moreauxiliary devices of a plurality of auxiliary devices.

Further embodiments provide configurations wherein the auxiliary deviceis integrated with the destination device.

According to some embodiments, said auxiliary device comprises at leastone auxiliary device and wherein said operations further comprise:

transmitting/receiving information by the at least one auxiliary deviceto/from the destination device and/or the transmitter over first andsecond time intervals that overlap with one another at least partially;

transmitting/receiving information by the at least one auxiliary deviceto/from the destination device and/or the transmitter over third andfourth time intervals that do not overlap with one another;

transmitting/receiving information by the at least one auxiliary deviceto/from the destination device and/or the transmitter via first andsecond protocols that differ from one another or are the same with oneanother;

transmitting/receiving information by the at least one auxiliary deviceto/from the destination device and/or the transmitter via first andsecond frequency sets whose frequencies are at least partially mutuallyexclusive with one another; and/or

transmitting/receiving information by the at least one auxiliary deviceto/from the destination device and/or the transmitter via third andfourth frequency sets comprising at least one common frequency with oneanother.

According to yet other embodiments, the auxiliary devicetransmits/receives information directly to/from the transmitter and alsotransmits/receives information directly to/from the destination device.

According to further embodiments, the auxiliary devicetransmits/receives information directly to/from the transmitter viafrequencies of a cellular frequency band and transmits/receivesinformation directly to/from the destination device via frequencies thatare at least partially mutually exclusive with frequencies of saidcellular frequency band.

And, in accordance with additional embodiments, the auxiliary devicetransmits/receives information directly to/from the transmitter andtransmits/receives information directly to/from the destination deviceconcurrently with one another.

Many other embodiments are possible; according to one embodiment of saidmany other embodiments, the auxiliary device transmits/receivesinformation directly to/from the transmitter via frequencies of acellular frequency band and transmits/receives information directlyto/from the destination device via frequencies of said cellularfrequency band.

In accordance with another embodiment, said auxiliary device comprisesfirst and second auxiliary devices; wherein said first and secondauxiliary devices transmit/receive concurrently with one another.

In accordance with yet a further embodiment, the system providedincludes the auxiliary device which comprises a smartphone; and, stillfurther, in accordance with another embodiment, the system providedcomprises the destination device. Many different embodiments, besidesthose described herein, are possible in connection with the abovedescription and drawing(s). It will be understood that it would beunduly repetitious and obfuscating to describe/illustrate everycombination and sub-combination of these embodiments. Accordingly, thepresent specification, including the drawings and Claims, shall beconstrued to constitute a complete written description of allcombinations and/or sub-combinations of embodiments described herein,and of the manner and process of making and using them, and shallsupport Claims to any such combination and/or sub-combination.

In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed inventiveconcepts and embodiments associated therewith and, although specificterms may have been employed, they are used in a generic and descriptivesense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of theinventive concepts being set forth in the following claims.

1.-209. (canceled)
 210. A first device that is configured to performoperations comprising: determining that a second device is configured toprovide a processing capability to the first device; selecting thesecond device that is configured to provide the processing capability tothe first device; communicating with the second device; and receivingthe processing capability from the second device.
 211. The first deviceaccording to claim 210, wherein said determining comprises wirelesslydetermining; wherein said selecting comprises selecting from a pluralityof devices each one of which is configured to provide the processingcapability to the first device; wherein said communicating compriseswirelessly communicating; and/or wherein said receiving compriseswirelessly receiving.
 212. The first device according to claim 210,wherein said determining and/or said communicating comprisescommunicating using a wireless Bluetooth link and/or a wireless WiFilink.
 213. The first device according to claim 210, wherein saiddetermining comprises detecting and/or identifying the presence of thesecond device that is configured to provide the processing capability.214. The first device according to claim 210, wherein the first devicecomprises a smartphone and wherein the second device comprises asmartphone.
 215. The first device according to claim 210, wherein thefirst device is proximate to the second device.
 216. The first deviceaccording to claim 215, wherein said proximate comprises a distance of100 feet or less.
 217. The first device according to claim 210, whereinsaid communicating comprises using frequencies that are mutuallyexclusive to frequencies allocated for cellular communications.
 218. Thefirst device according to claim 210, wherein said selecting the seconddevice comprises selecting two distinct devices.
 219. The first deviceaccording to claim 210, wherein said receiving the processing capabilitycomprises: transmitting by the first device to the second device a firstsignal comprising N bits of information; and causing the second deviceto transmit a second signal comprising M bits of information; whereinM≥N.
 220. The first device according to claim 219, wherein saidtransmitting comprises transmitting using a first protocol; and whereinsaid causing the second device to transmit comprises causing the seconddevice to transmit using a second protocol that differs from the firstprotocol.
 221. The first device according to claim 219, wherein saidtransmitting comprises transmitting using a first protocol; and whereinsaid causing the second device to transmit comprises causing the seconddevice to transmit using the first protocol and/or a variant thereof.222. The first device according to claim 220, wherein said transmittingusing the first protocol comprises transmitting using frequencies thatare mutually exclusive to frequencies allocated for cellularcommunications; and wherein said causing the second device to transmitusing the second protocol comprises transmitting using frequencies thatare allocated for cellular communications.
 223. A method comprising:determining that a second device is configured to provide a processingcapability to a first device; selecting the second device that isconfigured to provide the processing capability to the first device;communicating with the second device; and receiving the processingcapability from the second device.
 224. The method according to claim223, wherein said determining comprises wirelessly determining; whereinsaid selecting comprises selecting from a plurality of devices each oneof which is configured to provide the processing capability to the firstdevice; wherein said communicating comprises wirelessly communicating;and/or wherein said receiving comprises wirelessly receiving.
 225. Themethod according to claim 223, wherein said determining and/or saidcommunicating comprises communicating using a wireless Bluetooth linkand/or a wireless WiFi link.
 226. The method according to claim 223,wherein said determining comprises detecting and/or identifying thepresence of the second device that is configured to provide theprocessing capability.
 227. The method according to claim 223, whereinthe first device comprises a smartphone and wherein the second devicecomprises a smartphone.
 228. The method according to claim 223, whereinthe first device is proximate to the second device.
 229. The methodaccording to claim 228, wherein said proximate comprises a distance of100 feet or less.
 230. The method according to claim 223, wherein saidcommunicating comprises using frequencies that are mutually exclusive tofrequencies allocated for cellular communications.
 231. The methodaccording to claim 223, wherein said selecting the second devicecomprises selecting two distinct devices.
 232. The method according toclaim 223, wherein said receiving the processing capability comprises:transmitting by the first device to the second device a first signalcomprising N bits of information; and causing the second device totransmit a second signal comprising M bits of information; wherein M≥N.233. The method according to claim 232, wherein said transmittingcomprises transmitting using a first protocol; and wherein said causingthe second device to transmit comprises causing the second device totransmit using a second protocol that differs from the first protocol.234. The method according to claim 232, wherein said transmittingcomprises transmitting using a first protocol; and wherein said causingthe second device to transmit comprises causing the second device totransmit using the first protocol and/or a variant thereof.
 235. Themethod according to claim 233, wherein said transmitting using the firstprotocol comprises transmitting using frequencies that are mutuallyexclusive to frequencies allocated for cellular communications; andwherein said causing the second device to transmit using the secondprotocol comprises transmitting using frequencies that are allocated forcellular communications.
 236. The method according to claim 228, whereinsaid proximate comprises a distance of 10 feet or less.